Starting Over
by borntodanceninefour
Summary: The Cullens have moved from Forks to Pittsburgh, PA to start over. This time, Jake, Bella, and Nessie are joining them. What happens when things don't always go as planned, when you try to be a normal teen in a not-so-normal family? NessiexJake
1. Let's go over this one more time

Edward's POV:

"Okay," I said. "Let's go over this one more time before we leave."

"But Dad, we've been over this 100 times in the last week," Renesmee groaned.

"Well, just to be on the safe side. Plus, not all of us have vampiric memories." I looked pointedly at Jacob, but not in an accusing way. I'd grown used to his constant presence; he was family now. Although I didn't always appreciate his train of thought when it came to my daughter, I had accepted him. Either way, he made Nessie happy. That was the most important thing. Even though his thoughts weren't always so pure, he was always looking out for Nessie. He put her safety first, always ready to protect her.

I continued with my "speech."

"So, we're all adopted," I began from my spot in the armchair, Bella sitting on my lap. Esme and Carlisle had gone out hunting. Nessie and Jacob were cuddled up together on the loveseat ― a little too close for comfort. Emmett and Rosalie and Jasper and Alice were all on the white couch, similar to the one we had sitting back at our home in Forks, Washington. The décor here was much the same ― the same light colors; big, open rooms; a wall made entirely of glass. But this wasn't our forest mansion in Forks. This was our new home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow, we would all start school at Allderdice High School. This would be Nessie's first time at school, and Bella and Jacob's first time starting over.

It had been hard for Bella to say goodbye to Charlie, but we had promised to call regularly and visit when we had the chance. At least he wouldn't be lonely now. He had Sue now to keep him company and cook him dinner. Their wedding had been a private affair, only family and close friends. Our family and both wolf packs were included. Shortly after, Jacob had had to appoint Leah the alpha of their pack so that he could come with us here to Pittsburgh.

"Bella, you are Esme's younger sister. She has acted as your guardian since your parents passed away. Emmett and Alice, you two aren't related to anyone in the family. You guys were adopted at different times. Now, Jasper and Rosalie, you two are twins and still go by the last name Hale. And then there's you and me Nessie." Our resemblance was too obvious to ignore. "We are twins too. You must be careful not to slip and call me 'Dad.'"

I could hear Renesmee's anxious, awkward thoughts. Apparently, Jasper could feel this too. I immediately heard a calming in her thoughts. I looked at Jasper gratefully. _No problem,_ he thought back.

"Is everyone clear?" I continued, "You'll all remember the story?"

I heard the mumbled agreements from everyone.

"Wait. What about me?" Jake asked.

"They don't allow dogs in school, mongrel," Rosalie spat at him. Emmett turned his head to hide his laughter. Even Nessie let out a little chuckle. Time had done nothing to soften Rosalie and Jacob's relationship. The more they were together; the more they seemed to hate each other.

"Oh. Sorry Jake. I forgot. You were recently adopted by our family; Carlisle brought you in about 4 years ago."

"And I'm a sophomore?" He questioned.

"Yes. You, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper are in 10th grade. Bella, Alice, Nessie, and I are freshman."

"Awww." Alice said, "One less year with you, Jasper." He smiled thoughtfully back at her.

"Well. With less time worrying about school," he began, "I can spend more time with you at home." Then some very unpleasant images of what they could do in that time flooded my mind; whether from Alice or Jasper I didn't know. I was trying not to notice. Alice grinned back at him devilishly.

"Oh God," I hissed under my breath. I spoke a little louder now, "Jasper, just because you have the ability to turn a girl on from across the room doesn't mean you have to do it front of her family. In front of her mind-reading brother." I tried to tune their thoughts out. I felt Bella laughing against my chest. I looked at my watch: 7:30.

"O.K. guys. Its time to go. Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice: You guys take Rosalie's convertible." The more time away from Jasper and Alice's minds, the better. "Nessie and Jake, you can come with me and Bella in the Volvo."

As we all got up and made our way to our enormous garage, I caught a glimpse of Bella's thoughts. She had worked very hard on letting me passed her shield ever since that first night."

_I love you, _she thought silently. I put my arms around her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her.

"I love you, too." I whispered when we finally parted to get into our seats in the car.

The car ride to high school was silent. We were all caught up in our own thoughts and expectations of the coming day. I could hear Renesmee's thrilled thoughts about her first time at school. I could also hear Jacob's worried thoughts as he wondered how Renesmee would take to other kids "her age." We rode this way until we parked the car in the school parking lot.

"Well, here we go," I said. "Another town, another school."


	2. What's in the water here anyway?

We met up with the others in the parking lot. As we walked together through the halls of our new school towards the main office, we could hear the gasps and whispers all around us. I heard thoughts about us flying around everyone's head. This town was bigger than Forks, but when a new family with this many kids ―especially when they looked like us― walked into school, there was bound to be some talk. I heard some not-so-pleasant remarks about my wife, daughter, and sisters going through some of male students' heads. It seemed that in the seven years since I had last gone to high school, teenage boys' minds hadn't changed one bit. If it was possible, they seemed to have become even _more_ sexual. I wondered if I didn't prefer listening to Mike Newton's thoughts. I even caught some compromising opinions from a few teachers.

When we arrived at the main office, I could read the shock in both the secretary's face and thoughts when she saw us. She wordlessly passed me the pile of schedules and I passed them around to everyone. All the various couples began comparing their classes. I studied my list of courses; silently committing it to memory. Luckily, I had managed to call the school and convince them to place Bella and me together in all our classes. Of course, that large sum of money I donated to the school didn't hurt either. Fortunately, it seemed that all the couples had at least one class together.

The first half of the school day passed relatively painlessly. The classes were boring, but we only were called up to introduce ourselves in two classes. When it came time for lunch, we all crowded around one table. Jacob and Renesmee opted to go sit with some new friends they had made. I was relieved that everything seemed to be going great for Nessie, although a few of the boys at her table were thinking some things about my daughter that were not appropriate. I quickly put the images out of my mind before they scarred me for life. What was it with the guys here? Was there something in the water at school that made them all extremely horny? I would almost rather listen to Jacob's thoughts on Nessie. I heard one girl at the table address her.

"Wow. Who is that gorgeous God with the bronze hair? Is he single? Holy smokes he is hot!"

She shuddered at the thought. "Ew, no. That's Edward, my Da- um I mean my _dumb_ brother. And no; he's not single. He's going out with the girl with the brown hair next to him."

"Nice save," I muttered. I knew she would hear me.

_Sorry. I wasn't thinking, _she apologized. I gave her a look to let her know she was forgiven.

"But aren't they like brother and sister?" The girl looked at Nessie with wide, surprised eyes. She quickly explained our situation to the girl― including who was with who. She even mentioned herself and Jacob when she was talking about the couples. I could hear the excitement in Jacob's mind as his heart beat quickened in response to her words. She smiled at him. He grinned back at her.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful. If Bella had been able to sleep, she definitely would have dozed off in biology. We were labeling the phases of onion root, just like at the beginning of the year when I first met my Bella. We finished within two minutes and had the rest of the period to ourselves. We talked in hushed whispers that were imperceptible to the human ear. We were both grateful when the bell finally rang, rushing out of the classroom towards the parking lot. As we glided through the hallways, I could tell we were still in the forefront of everyone's thoughts.

We met up with our family in front of our parked cars. The car ride home was completely opposite of what it had been this morning. We were all talking the whole way home. Bella asked Jacob and Nessie how their day had been. Apparently, they had already made a group of friends. People didn't feel inadvertently wary around Nessie as they did with the rest of our family ― in fact, she seemed to have the opposite effect on people; she had made friends almost instantly. People felt drawn to her.

Carlisle and Esme were waiting at home for us ―having come back from their hunting trip― with a fresh round of questioning for us. Then we all spent the 5 to 10 minutes it took to complete the homework for all our classes.

That night, after Jacob and Nessie had gone to sleep in their room, Bella and I discussed Renesmee's experience and marveled at our daughter's abilities at fitting in and acting like a normal teenager. Not a seven-year-old half-vampire-half-human with a werewolf for a boyfriend.

We spent the rest of the night marveling in each other. Luckily, we had gotten Nessie and Jake's room sound-proofed so we wouldn't wake them up at night with all the banging like we used to in our old house. Fortunately, we had made sure that the sound-proofing was only one-way. We could still listen in to make sure that Nessie and Jake were behaving. Although they were completely in love, we still didn't want our seven-year-old daughter making love to a twenty three-year-old. Even if that seven-year-old were physically sixteen.

The next morning, we all got ready to begin another day at Allderdice High School.


	3. Damp Rags and Mad Dads

**A/N: I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far! : Please, please, please review… ; It builds my confidence and that builds my FanFic chapter writing abilities!**

**I'm still looking for a Beta. If you're interested, PM me… thx! :**

**I don't own Twilight. I only wish I had half the beastality that SM does!**

**Nessie's POV: **

The first week of school passed by real fast. I had made a group of friends almost instantly. I seemed to get along better with humans than the rest of my family. Something about pale-white, golden-eyed, goddess-looking people just didn't look normal to humans. Go figure.

Some people even felt intimated by Jake ― though once they got to know him they relaxed; he was like a life-sized teddy bear. He was furry like one too. Plus, most kids at school had come to realize that we were a package deal ― he went where I went. And I wouldn't have it any other way. And it wasn't like we kept our relationship a secret at school either; we had no problem with PDA, although my Dad didn't always seem too thrilled with us. What?! Like he wasn't all over my Mom in school? He had made it very clear to the male population of Allderdice that she was his, just as Jacob and I had with each other. But this didn't stop the guys from talking about me inappropriately.

I silently cursed my super hearing everyday when I had to listen to the boys in my class whisper about me. It was almost as bad as listening to girls talk about my Dad ― Ewww! Gross! If I had to listen to one more girl promise to her girlfriends that she'd get into his pants by the end of the school year, I didn't know what I'd do! But even worse was hearing them talk about my Jake. Every time one of them made a remark about him, he was quick to reassure me that I was his girl­ ― for eternity. He always knew what to say to make me feel better.

On the first day of my second week of school, I went to the bathroom during third period math. I knew all the material so even though I technically had no need for a bathroom ­― blood was the only liquid in my body apart from saliva ― I went to check myself in the mirror.

I was so busy fixing my already perfectly done hair (compliments of Alice) that I didn't see him come up behind me. I had assumed the person entering was a female, so I hadn't bothered to turn around. By the time I did, though, it was too late.

He had his hand over my mouth with a cloth before I had even realized what had happened. Before I completely gave way to the inevitable black haze, I called out one name in desperation.

**Edwards POV:**

I was sitting in third period English when I heard her call.

"_Dad!_" I recognized the sound of her thoughts instantly. I glanced at Jasper; apparently he had felt her panic too ― I read it in his thoughts. I jumped up at once. I saw Bella look at me both questioningly and with surprise in her eyes.

"_Nessie._" Was all I muttered, too low for a human to hear. She looked at me with wide eyes, already out of her chair, too. Luckily the teacher had left the room to go to take a call with an administrator in the office; she wouldn't be back for a while.

Unfortunately, we didn't go unnoticed by our classmates, though. I could feel all their eyes on us, wondering what was wrong with the beautiful new kids. I'd have to figure out some excuse later. I rushed out the door, ― though slow enough not to arouse suspicion- Bella on my heels. I could hear Jasper follow us out.

I followed Nessie's scent up a flight of steps and down several hallways. When I got to the hallway where her third period class was, I saw Jacob look at us out the window of the classroom door. One look at us three was all it took for him to jump out of his seat and bound out the door. We all continued without breaking stride.

"I'll have to explain that to the teacher later," Jacob began, "But for now, what the hell is going on?"

"Nessie called out for me. She sounded like she was in trouble," I answered. I was surprised by the tension in my voice. I looked at Jacob and saw this tension reflected in his face. In fact, we all wore similar expressions. Before I could continue, though, we arrived at the door to the girls' bathroom. I could smell her scent coming from inside. I reached for the door, only to find it was locked. Jacob moved his fist back and brought it into the door with such force that could shatter concrete. He had created a hole in the door which used to contain the lock and handle. We all hurried inside…

**A/N: I know this chapter is kinda short, but I have the next one all typed up and ready for me to click that "update" button. Please just take a few seconds to review my story! I love you all so much! That's why I do this! **

**P.S. Remember to PM if you're interested in becoming my beta! :**


	4. Blind leading the Blind

**A/N: ****Yay!! 10 reviews for that last chapter! Wow... I love you guys!  
**

**WARNING: The following chapter contains a **_**very**_** small reference to Mature Content. I didn't go into too many details as I didn't find it necessary.**

**You're feedback is greatly appreciated! RxR!**

**Bella's POV:**

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My baby lay crumpled on the floor in a heap. A boy who I recognized faintly from seeing him around the halls stood over her. He had turned to look at us as we pushed our way through the doorway. Nessie's jacket lay rumpled in a ball next to her head. Her shirt was pushed halfway up her body.

I could feel the sob rip through me and waited for the tears I knew couldn't come. As I collapsed I felt Edward's arms snake around me, catching me before I could fall.

I watched as Jasper walked up to the kid and slowly brought his hand back. I closed my eyes, waiting for the sound of the crunch I knew was sure to follow. When Jasper's fist connected with his face, the satisfying sound wasn't enough to ease my pain.

I allowed Edward to lower me to the floor and sat there sobbing as he made his way over to our daughter. I watched as he failed to wake her up.

"Don't worry," he attempted to soothe me, "She's got an even pulse. Though she won't wake up for a bit."

"Don't worry?" I retorted, "How can you tell me don't worry at a time like this."

Until this moment I hadn't noticed the waves of anger rolling outward from Jacob's body.

With the guy ― no, not guy, monster ― lying useless on the floor, Jasper attempted to calm Jacob. It was no use. Jacob was still shaking uncontrollably.

At that moment, Alice burst through the door. She took one look around and ran for Jasper. He wrapped his arm around her comfortingly.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't see this. I'm so sorry, Bella. Edward." She looked a mess.

"It's not your fault, Alice," Jasper offered consolingly, "You can't see Renesmee. We all know that. But how did you know to come here? You couldn't have heard us ­― your classroom is across the building."

"Well, speaking of not being able to see," she began shakily, "I think you should get out of here, Jacob ― and fast."

"What's wrong?" I asked her, the panic obvious in my voice. Edward looked at her meaningfully. I could tell she was explaining everything to him in her head. His eyes were wide and his skin was paler than I had ever seen it ― and that was saying something.

"Jacob, get out of here! Now!" Edward began pushing him out the door.

"What's going on?" I pleading, hating that I didn't know what was about to happen.

"I just saw…," Alice hesitated for a moment, "…I just saw the entire school's future go blank."

Even as the words left her mouth, I could see Jake begin to change. A second later, and we were staring up at the tortured eyes of a giant russet wolf. He charged out the door and down the hallway, making a tremendous amount of noise.

I watched in horror as classroom after classroom filed out into the hall to see what was going on.

To say they looked shocked would be an understatement. To say they looked scared would be an even bigger understatement.

Jake bolted down the hallway and down the stairs. I could hear him exit the building and run for the forest.

Emmett sprinted up to us, Rosalie right behind him. There was no trace of humor in his face whatsoever.

"What the HELL is going on?!" He shouted at us. Luckily, with all the chaos going on, no one could hear him but us.

As I looked around the crowded hallway, I could see that this was the question on everyone's mind.

_What the hell was going on?! _

_And what the hell were we gonna do about it?!_

**A/N: Yeah, I know these are all extremely short chapters… but I hope you like them anyway… Do you know what **_**I **_**like? Reviews!! Please review! Thanks guys! I love you!**

―Michelle


	5. Lost and Found

**A/N: Sorry it took so long. I was at a friend's house. And then I was grounded. (I still am… but I'm sneaking on.) So anyways, here is the next chapter. Because I love you all so much, I made it longer than the rest. I hope you all enjoy it. Please review! It will take you all of 30 seconds, and it makes my day!**

**Why yes. I am Stephenie Meyer. Can't you tell? (That was sarcasm… wink)**

**Bella's POV:**

Luckily, amid the chaos and confusion, no one had time to take note of our family. The hallways were teeming with students, all being herded down to the auditorium by the teachers.

No one even noticed us as we walked the opposite way against the current of bodies and slipped out to the parking lot; Edward carrying a still unconscious Resnesmee. Emmett, Rose, Jasper, and Alice all got into Rosalie's convertible. Edward and I rode in the Volvo.

The ride home was a silent one. I sat in the back seat with Nessie in my arms, and Edward stared ahead at the road the entire time. I could tell that he was deep in thought. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were drawn in a tight line.

I, too, was thinking hard. My mind was sifting through our options; trying to figure out what to do. An unconscious portion of my brain was trying to determine where Jake could have run off to.

When we arrived home, Carlisle and Esme were already outside on the front porch, waiting for us. Apparently one of our siblings had thought to call them to clue them in on the situation. It felt a bit of relief at the notion that some of us were still focused and thinking rationally at this time. They hadn't told them all the details, though ― only that there was a problem at school and we were coming home immediately, sans-Jacob.

We all hurried inside. Edward rushed Nessie over to the couch and laid her down. Then we all hurried to find seats. We retold our entire story to Carlisle and Esme ― interrupting each other when necessary. I then remembered that Emmett and Rosalie hadn't yet heard the story. When I voiced my concerns, Alice was quick to respond.

"Don't worry. I filled them in in the car."

"The biggest concern right now is finding Jacob before he can do any more damage ― self-inflicted or otherwise," Carlisle began. "He is probably still in his wolf form, and if too many of us go after him, he may get scared and run away. He probably thinks we are angry with him, which is definitely not the case.

"Only one of you should go look for him and try to calm him down," Esme said quietly.

All eyes fell on me. "Are you sure? I don't know if he would want me to find him."

"Bella," Edward assured me. "You connect with him on a different level than the rest of us. He is your best friend. If anyone could talk to him, it would be you."

"Well, I suppose that's true," I agreed. "I guess I can go look for him." I got up off the couch.

"Don't forget your phone. We'll call you if he shows up here," Edward reminded me. I held up my phone and headed out the door.

I ran the forests near our house for about half an hour, but Jacob was no where to be found. I ran near the school for another hour, with still no sign of him. Where could he have gone off to? I walked around town until I was sure he wasn't there either. I figured there was one more place I could check before I headed home to wait for him. I mean, he had to come home eventually… didn't he? I hoped so.

I walked at a slightly-faster-than-human speed to the beach, giving him some time. Sure enough, when I got there he was sitting on a white log ― similar to our special tree stump back at First Beach in La Push. I was cautious as I walked towards him, as I could tell he was still seething a bit. He was in his human form; slumped over with his head in his hands, but his body was shaking with fury.

As I went to sit next to him, he didn't even acknowledge my presence. He made no move to look up. I put my arm around him, and we just sat like that ― silently ― for a while. I don't know how long it was― maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours ― before he finally straightened himself up and climbed off the log.

"Are you ready to talk yet?" I whispered.

"I don't think I really want to talk about it right now."

"Okay. But I really think we should go home. Everyone is worried sick about you."

"Why would they be worried about me? Furious with me I would understand; but worried?" He looked incredulous.

"Jacob, what happened was not your fault. You are still relatively young and were put in an uncomfortable situation."

"Bella, you're even younger in vampire years than I am in 'shape shifter' years. Yet I don't see you running off and losing your temper and biting people."

Without realizing it, we had been moving towards home. We were in the woods now. I turned to look at him. "Jake, If I wasn't so upset, I probably would have lost my temper, too, and would have hurt that boy today. Believe me; you acted exactly like I would've in that situation."

He huffed a sigh and trudged ahead of me. We were coming up to the clearing where the mansion was. He ran up to the house and waited for me on the porch. I took my time, not wanting to rush what was sure to follow.

We slowly walked into the house. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Edward came and put his arm around my waist, pulling me towards his body.

"I knew you could do it," he whispered into my ear. He bent down and kissed the top of my head.

Carlisle came over and led Jacob to a spot on the couch. We all braced ourselves for the upcoming conversation.

**A/N: Please review! **

**I was wrong; I'll answer Moremoo's question in the next chapter. I'm still looking for a Beta. PM me if you're interested! I'm starting High School in 2 days, but don't worry ―** **I'll keep the story coming. But you guys gotta keep the reviews coming!**


	6. Choices

**A/N: Thanks for being so patient you guys! High school is going great so far! I haven't had too much homework and my teachers are all pretty awesome. But enough about me…**

**I'm still searching for a beta. Send a PM my way if you are interested. Please! I'm getting desperate. I might have to end up giving Beta to smileazf. Chagrined gasp (Oh, Sexi Lexi, you know I love you.) For those of you who don't know the awesomeness that is smileazf, here's a bit about her. Her name is Alexis, she's super sexy, and she's one of my best friends! She's the one who really got me interested in Twilight! Unfortunately, the Schedule Gods didn't put us in any of the same classes this year. )':**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you like it! Please review! **

**Disclaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer, though that would be the epitome of awesome!**

Jacob's POV:

Esme reached her hand out cautiously towards my shoulder. She had become like a mother to me in the past few years, especially because my mother was gone. But I shrugged her hand off before it had even reached my skin.

I didn't want her comfort and pity now. I didn't deserve the understanding that everyone in the room was showing me. Well, not exactly everyone. Rosalie was glaring at me like she wished her now midnight black eyeballs could shoot lasers. The term _if looks could kill_ would be an understatement for the snarling gaze she currently had fixed on me.

But her look was justified. I wished all of them could look at me with the pure hatred that was threatening to shoot out of her eyes in a burst of flames. Instead, they were staring at me with their big golden eyes, sympathy and a worry being the only things disturbing their inhumanly beautiful faces.

I searched the room for the caramel colored eyes I longed to see. But Nessie wasn't one of the many faces staring back at me. I followed her scent to the couch, where she lay visibly unconscious.

I felt another gush of heat shudder up my spine. My hands shook with the effort I took to control my temper. In all my years of being a werewolf ― I mean, shape shifter ― I had never felt this angry; had never wanted to phase so badly. But I couldn't phase now. This was probably also the most inappropriate time I could ever have phased in all my years. Well, not counting today at school, that was.

Remembering today's events, I felt a rush of heat color my cheeks. I looked back over at Renesme, my love. I felt like I was burning, watching her unmoving body. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. My tongue suddenly felt as if it was being weighted down by twenty tons of cement. When I finally remembered how to speak, I turned back to Carlisle.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, panic filling my voice.

"We are not exactly sure yet," Carlisle replied. "I'll have to run some tests. But first, we have a few other things to discuss."

I bowed my head in shame.

"Fortunately, no one saw you phase back there. Even more fortunate is the fact that your school cannot afford a security camera system."

I heard six sighs of relief at his words ― Rose didn't even bother. Her eyes were still shooting daggers at me.

"Now we just have to explain why Bigfoot went running down the school hallway earlier." Emmett's words were met with seven reproachful looks. Even Rosalie joined in this time. "What? Someone's gotta lighten the mood in here. You'd think we were all a bunch of dead people." He roared with laughter at his own joke while everyone else continued at glare at him.

"Emmett, now is not the time for jokes," Esme reproached him in a strained whisper.

"We could just pass it off as a really large bear," Jasper suggested, tightening his hold around Alice's tiny waist.

"At this point, that may just be our only option." Carlisle bent his head in thought. "Yes, I believe that would be for the best. And Jake," he looked up to catch my eyes, "You'll have to go back to school tomorrow. We can't have anyone becoming suspicious."

"But what about that boy ― I believe his name is Mark. The one who tried to …hurt Nessie?" Bella looked like she would cry if it were possible.

"Already taken care of," Alice chimed in, "I called the school when you left and gave them a watered down version of the events leading up to… Jake's… you know." She couldn't look me in the eye. "I left out any details that would give us away. And I checked the future to see what the boy would remember. It all happened so fast, and Jasper did it with such ..._force_…" She squeezed her husband's arm, "He won't remember anything from after you broke a hole in the door, Jake."

"But Jacob, you're going to have to work on your temper a bit," Carlisle began in a hushed tone, "I know you haven't had an outburst like that in years ― but still… just to be on the safe side."

"Sure, sure," I responded glumly, "And I'm truly sorry about my behavior today. It was unacceptable."

"Jacob, what happened was not your fault. It was that scumbag's." Edward tried to reassure me.

"Sure, sure," I repeated again, then added as an afterthought, "Whatever. If I'd like to blame myself, then I can do that. Either way, we need to fix her. _NOW._" I'd said that last word as a growl.

All eyes fell on my Nessie. "Let's get her upstairs and see what's going on. She should have woken up by now." I could sense the urgency in Carlisle's voice, thought he tried to keep a calm façade.

We all stood silently as Edward scooped her in his arms and flew upstairs to Carlisle's study. We followed him up the staircase noiselessly, me in front.

Edward placed her limp body onto a hospital bed in the center of the room that Carlisle must have set up while I was gone. Probably left over from when Bella was pregnant. He'd cleared everything else out of the way, too.

We all crowded around the small bed, while Carlisle flitted around us, attaching various IV's and machines to the suddenly small and fragile little girl in the center of the bed. I'd never think Renesmee could ever look frail, but somehow she'd manage to do that now.

We waited a few minutes; all was silent ― no one daring to breathe but myself ― except for the soft thrum of the machinery and the dripping of the IV's. Five minutes later, Carlisle took a look at the test results.

"Oh, God. It's worse than I'd feared. It seems as though the chloroform has mixed with her blood, acting as a sort of poison."

"_WHAT?!_" Bella shrieked, actually taking out a few windows with the high decibels of her voice.

"Well, we have two options here," Carlisle continued, not meeting Bella's crazed-filled eyes. Edward didn't look too much better himself. I hadn't seen him this distraught since Bella's life was in danger when she was pregnant. This must be hard on him. First, nearly having your wife killed, and then your daughter. "One, we can change her. But I don't know how Jake would react to that," I would too shocked to respond, too numb to even move my lips. "Or…"

"WHAT?! What can we do?!" It was Rosalie this time who was frantically screaming.

"Well," Carlisle began hesitantly, "I suppose we could… _have her drink human blood?_" He said this last part so quietly and uncertainly that it almost sounded like a question. He continued, "It would have to be fresh ― straight from the source; the body. It would potentially refresh and renew her own blood, washing out any and all toxins present." He looked around at everyone in the room.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Alice asked, shocked that he would even have to ask. Her vote was apparent in her face.

"That's an easy one!" Boomed Emmett. "Where's that schmuck that tried to rape Nessie earlier?"

"Emmett!" Esme reprimanded him, appalled.

"I'm not kidding. I'm completely serious! He deserves it. He started all this mess, so now we'll end him!" He sounded like he was trying to rally everyone up.

"I'm game!" Jasper agreed. "It's only seems fair."

Esme turned to look at Carlisle, talking to him using just her eyes. In less than a second, they'd had an entire discussion without even opening their mouths once.

Esme sighed quietly. "I guess… ―"

"Great! Then let's go! There's no time to lose!" Rose interrupted her and without a second look back was down the stairs and out the door. I could hear her getting her car ready.

"Edward and Bella, you two stay here with me and Esme. You too, Jake." I nodded silently. "The rest of you, go get in Rosalie's car."

"Hurry up and get back here," Edward said sternly. "We've not got time to lose." His voice was fierce with determination.

Everyone else filed out the door and downstairs. I heard them, too, get into the BMW. They were gone and speeding down the winding path that led towards the highway before I had even collected my thoughts.

**A/N: This chapter was super long, because I like you all super much! I hoped you enjoyed it. **

**Shout-out to my readers in Estonia and Lithuania, countries that I never would have imagined would be home to my fanfic fans! But don't think I've forgotten abut the rest of you. I do this all for you guys. I love you all and I love making you guys happy! Happy reviewing!**

**-Michelle (:**


	7. Will he never learn?

**A/N: Woohoo! I've officially got a beta! What's more… I have two! A big thank you to Edwardjustproposed and Smileazf for their beta work! And this A/N might be a bit long because I have got a few things to address.**

**I would like to begin a new Twilight Fanfic. (Don't worry though; this one is still my baby and will continue on for a while.) I would love, love, love some suggestions! Anything you think of is great! I may even do more than one fanfic. I'll accept any plot whatsoever. A few New Moon AU ideas would be interesting, too.**

**I am officially open for beta business!! Yep, you heard me right! I am now beta-certified! So if anyone is in need of a beta, or knows someone who needs a beta, or knows somebody's brother's girlfriend's hairdresser's poodle-walker needs a beta ― let them know I'm TOTALLY available! D (Please forgive my shameless self-promotion. XD)**

**I noticed I made a mistake in an earlier chapter: Apart from blood and saliva, Nessie also has tears. I'm terribly sorry for forgetting to include this!**

**As for what moremoo pointed out about killing the boy for his blood: If you recall, in the previous chapter Carlisle mentioned that the blood MUST be fresh and from the body for it to help Nessie. And no one is too thrilled about what they have to do, (Even Emmett wouldn't do this if he didn't find it necessary.) but they want to cure Renesme.**

**Thank you all for all your great reviews. I desperately wish I could respond to all of them, but with school and homework and everything, I barely have time to do anything else. I really appreciate all my fans and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.**

**And finally, because this A/N has gotten WAY to long, I'd like to conclude with this: If you go to my profile page and look at my favorites, there are some great fanfics. From romance to humor to sadness to lemons (teehee) to AU to all human to randomness, you'll find some amazing works of literature. So check it out, and don't forget to review their stories, too! (and by too I'm implying that you should be reviewing mine also XD )**

**So, on with the chapter!!**

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer. Though I do frequently dream about her characters. XD**

Emmett's POV:

It hadn't taken me even a half of a second to decide where I stood on the matter. My decision had been made far before the options were even offered. I most likely would have gotten back at that perv eventually somehow ― though probably not in this way.

Admittedly, the thought of taking a life disturbed me; it had been so long since I had tasted human blood and I honestly didn't like harming people. Despite my intimidating appearance and love for a good-natured fight, I truly didn't enjoy harming others.

But when family was on the line… it was a different story. You know what they say: Blood is thicker than water. And trust me, my family knew a thing or too about blood.

My niece held a special place in my heart; perhaps this was because when I was a human, I had had a very large family and my nieces had been quite special to me then, too. I had loved being an uncle to all my siblings' children, and I had quickly welcomed back the task after Nessie was born.

And after all that, there was no way I was going to sit back and watch her die.

I tried to calm myself by staring at my wife as she drove furiously through the night, the road slipping beneath her tires at a speed that would scare any human. I was having difficultly relaxing; every breath was forced between my clenched teeth.

I felt Jasper lay a reassuring hand upon my shoulder, and felt the wave of calm rush over me. I nodded my head to let him know his actions were well-received, though I didn't dare speak aloud and shatter the silence that had fell upon the car.

Alice had seen a vision of his house and Rose hadn't needed directions to get there. We were pulling up towards the turn-off onto his street when I suddenly had a thought. I wanted to slap myself for not having thought of this earlier.

"Rose. Jasper, Alice. I just realized something," I breathed, knowing full well they could hear me. Jasper murmured his acknowledgment and I continued.

"What are we going to do when we get there? We can't very well drive our car through his kitchen and dart upstairs and drag him from his bedroom." I looked around at all of their faces and could tell they were just as surprised as me when they grasped what I was saying.

"Oh, crap! You're right. We didn't come up with a plan." Alice's exclaim was followed by a short string of words you wouldn't expect to come out of the mouth of a lady like herself. Her eyes unfocused for a fraction of a second and I could tell she was having a vision. Jasper placed his arm around her shoulders protectively.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a syringe filled with a sickly sweet smelling clear liquid. "I saw that we would need this earlier today― but I wasn't sure what for ― so I thought to stick it in my bag."

"What is it?" Rosalie's lips parted out of their tight, determined line for a brief second as she questioned Alice.

"It's an anesthetic. It'll put him to sleep so we can bring him back to the house. We don't want to cause him pain," but she quickly mumbled darkly under her breath, "Though he probably deserves it."

We were pulling up to his house now and we could tell that people were definitely home; almost all the lights were on in the home and we could hear the sound of a T.V. There was also some loud music coming from the open windows of what I could only assume was Mark's room ― the lyrics were derogatorily directed towards women. I let my sense of smell wander out just to make sure that it was, indeed, Mark's bedroom.

"Figures," muttered Alice when she heard the song, "I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't just toss the meds into the bushes and drag him out screaming.

We drove a few houses passed Mark's and parked across the street.

"I'll stay here," Rose began. "The rest of you jump the eastern wall to his room on the second floor." We climbed out noiselessly and made our way towards his house.

Jasper sighed. I didn't need his gift to know he was feeing a bit guilty. All of us were. But if we had to get to Nessie immediately with fresh human blood, this was our only option.

I jumped first, coming down silently in the shadows of his room. He wasn't in there, but I could hear the toilet flushing and I knew we would only have a few more seconds until he returned.

"Jump now, Jasper," I said under my breath, "And Alice, you go immediately after him."

Even as I said this, Jasper was flying through the window. He came up next to me in the shadows. Alice followed him right away.

"Now," I muttered darkly, "we wait."

It wasn't three seconds later that Mark walked back into his room. He didn't even look towards us as he went to turn up his stereo. We waited till he had sat back in front of his computer screen before we made our move.

Jasper ran up behind him and smacked a hand over his mouth. I got a good look at the bruise over his left eye ―evidence of his earlier encounter with my family. In the same second, Alice had jammed the needle into the side of his leg.

He was asleep instantly and I threw him over my shoulder. With one more glance back at his computer screen ― it was a chat window with a younger girl he was planning on meeting up with; when would he ever learn? ― I had flown back out through the window. I raced back to the car, Jasper and Alice hot on my heels.

I handed Mark's unconscious body off to Jasper, who got into the back seat and slid Mark in next to him.

Rosalie slammed her foot down on the gas pedal and we were off ― doing two hundred miles per hour ― towards home and towards Nessie.

Alice said the words that were seemingly on all of our minds: "I hope it's not too late."

**A/N: I know this chapter is a bit short, but it is just a filler chapter so you guys could know what happened with the "Get Mark" team. I had so much fun writing from Emmett's POV, maybe I'll try Jasper or Alice next.**

**Again, thank you so much to Edwardjustproposed and Smileazf for their beta work.**

**Don't forget about those suggestions for another fanfic.**

**I love you all!**

**―Michelle**


	8. Saving Ness

**A/N: I'm kinda bummed right now. I'm on the school dance team/ kick line and we were supposed to perform at our first game on Friday night, which was the first home football game. A.K.A. "Friday Night Lights." Except then they said it was gonna rain so they cancelled our performance. Of course then it was a perfect night with no falling water! ): We've been practicing for weeks and we weren't able to dance. Dang Nabbit ! (sp?) **

**Anyway, I have some other news for you guys. First off, I'm beta-ing for the story **_Pure Fantasy_** by **_The Velocity of Jellybeans._** The story is AMAZING (And I'm not just saying that because I'm the beta! XD) but so far there have not been that many reviews. The writing is phenomenal, so I'm guessing that the advertising just needs to be upped. So: GO READ IT AND REVIEW!! (: The link is in my favorites.**

**Also, I just started a new Twi-Fanfic. It's called **_Promises had Broken_**. It's a New Moon AU about how 2 years after Edward leaves, Bella is trying to piece her life back together. She goes to college, and who just so happens to be her TA? I think you are all smart enough to guess!**

**I also wrote a short one-shot, too. It's called **_Say Anything, Do anything_**. It's another version about what could have been going through Bella's mind right before her and Edward go on the walk and he says he's leaving her. I felt a little may more may have been running through her head. **

**I'm also in the midst of another project. I'm writing a one-shot with the amazingness that is **_Smileazf_**. I'll let you guys know when we post it. XD**

**I won't keep you guys from the chapter much longer, so I've only got to praise my betas and write an unnecessary disclaimer. (:**

**Thank you to my wonderful betas, **_Edwardjustproposed _**and **_Smileazf_**.**

**Disclaimer: If I were Stephenie Meyer, do you really think I'd be posting a post-BD fanfic when I could be making it into a book and selling it for **_Cash Munayy_**?!**

Jasper POV:

The car ride back to the mansion was harsh. I was bombarded by so many emotions at once that it was hard to tell what _my_ true emotions were.

Alice was feeling remorse for what we had done, with a hint of shame. Anxiety was also radiating out of her in waves. She couldn't see what the outcome of today would be, and it was scaring her ― she absolutely hated being blind. She relied on her extra sense more than she liked to admit.

I felt helpless as I watched her hunched over figure sitting next to me in the car. I wanted to reach over and hold her, to comfort my wife. But I was afraid she didn't want me to touch her, didn't want my pity. All I could do was attempt to send a wave of calm over the car that didn't seem to be doing much of anything at all.

Rosalie was fuming, ― no surprise there ― but she was still feeling a bit bad.

Emmett's emotions were all over the place. One second adrenaline was pumping through his veins, the next he was completely worried for Nessie, and the next… regret? I'd rarely felt this feeling from Emmett before. He often crossed the line with his inappropriate jokes, but seldom did he regret his actions. I knew we were all taking this pretty hard, but for Emmett to feel a pang of guilt… I knew this was going to hit our family hard.

But we had spent years quenching our thirst from animals ― that had to make up for something… right? And it wasn't like we were all going to start drinking from humans again just because we needed one now. _We were doing this for the right reasons._

I just kept telling myself that over and over again, trying not to let the thoughts behind the feelings leak their way into my mind.

We were flying through the forest now, driving down the winding path to the house. As we pulled into the clearing instead of going round to the garage, I could feel a new onslaught of emotions.

I could feel the pure fear emanating from Edward and Bella as they talked in hushed whispers upstairs. Esme was almost as fearful as them.

Carlisle's feelings were also not usual. His mood was hesitant and uncertain. I was not used to the man I thought of as my father being so susceptible. He was venerable, not vulnerable. It scared me a bit to think that even he could be so nervous.

I climbed out of the car with Mark in my arms, Alice following up the porch steps behind me wordlessly. The door opened before we had even reached it, and Carlisle led us upstairs to his office.

Nessie was stirring when we walked in the door.

"She's been drifting in and out of consciousness since you guys left. We can't get her to stay awake, though. She needs to feed. _Soon_."

Bella knelt down on the right side of the bed and grasped Nessie's hand. Jacob was on her other side, holding onto her hand as if she would die as soon as her pale fingers were disentwined from his russet ones. I hadn't noticed him up until this point, and as soon as I'd acknowledged his feelings, I was wishing I hadn't. I knew that if she didn't make it through this, he was gone, too.

"Renesmee, sweetheart. We need you to stay awake right now." Bella's voice was breaking in odd places, and her pain would have been enough to break my heart were it still beating.

"Baby, please. We need you to stay with us. Please don't leave us. _Stay._" Bella's voice was barely above a whisper at this point. Even the sharpest of human ears wouldn't be able to make out her words.

Renesmee's eyes began to flutter.

"Nessie, darling," it was Edward who spoke now, "we know a way to fix you. It's not going to be pleasant, but it will _fix you._" This was feeling all too familiar. I let my mind wander for a moment back to those memories of when Bella was pregnant.

I was brought back to the present when I felt Mark being lifted from my hands. I looked up and caught Edward's eyes. He looked like… well, he looked liked… a burning man was the only definition I could come up with.

I looked over and saw Nessie's hand flurry down from Bella's face. She must have told Bella 'yes' in her special way, because next thing I knew, Edward had Mark next to Nessie.

I had to leave the room at this point. I had gotten a lot better about dealing with temptation over the last seven years, but I still didn't have to unnecessarily risk my progress. Ever since Bella had been changed, I had been getting better at ignoring my instincts for blood. She had inspired me, changed the way I saw myself and my existence.

I walked downstairs and went to sit on the white couch. Alice came over and curled up into my lap. We sat like this for about ten minutes ― me stroking her hair, and her humming to herself ― until we picked ourselves up and walked back up the stairs to Carlisle's study.

Everyone was standing around Nessie, who was now sitting up in her bed.

"She's going to be alright." Rosalie murmured, more to herself than for the rest of us to hear.

"Yes," Carlisle began, "she's going to be just fine."

**A/N: Song for this chapter: "I can feel a hot one" by Manchester Orchestra.**

**Amazing song! Check it out on youtube!!**

**Don't think the action is all over… I can promise, there is TONS more to come!!**

**The beginning of this chapter was basically a filler, so that you could see everyone's feelings about what was going on. **

**I get more inspired by reviews. So, if you want to inspire me and make my day, you'll click that review button. And although I'll update no matter how many reviews I receive, I'll update more frequently if I get more reviews. **

**And please also check out my new fanfics and the fanfic I'm beta-ing for. Don't forget to review those, too!**


	9. No sleep tonight

**A/N: So I'm watching **_The Notebook_**. I'd forgotten how amazing this movie is. So sad, though. )': **

**Anyways… sorry it took so long for this update. I've been really busy you know… failing bio tests and what-not. Well… actually I got a 72, so it's not **_technically _**failing. XD**

**Also, I've been working on my newest story, **_Promises had Broken_**, so I took a few days off for that. It would make me immensely happy if you guys went and read that. And reviewed. (:**

**On my profile, there are now photo gallery links for each story. I also made a gallery of pictures of what I thought the main Twilight characters would look like. You should check it out, it really cool. XD**

**Thanks to my awesome betas: **_Smileazf _**and **_Edwardjustproposed_**.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own the Twilight series and the Cullens. If I did, I probably wouldn't be here because I'd be having hot, crazy vampire sex with Edward… **_twenty-four-seven_**!!**

* * *

Nessie POV:

Things mellowed down a bit after I got better ― well, as mellow as things can be in a house full of vampires, a werewolf, and a hybrid.

I took a week off of school, not wanting to rush into things.

When Mark's body was found in the woods, the cause of death was deemed responsible by the giant "bear" that had been seen running through the school. My family, of course, did nothing to quench these rumors.

I had been pretty down lately, though.

My family had told me what Mark had attempted to do to me, but I still felt horrible about what I had done to him.

He was still a human being, after all ― albeit not a very respectable one says Emmett.

But still… I had taken a life, just to save my own.

"Nessie, honey. It was his fault that you were even put in that situation." Upon hearing my thoughts, my father had felt the need to speak up. Even though my family was upset, too, they were putting aside their feelings to comfort me.

They were constantly trying to remind me that most of them, too, had taken humans lives when they had slipped up. Like _that_ was reassuring to me.

No. The only thing that could cheer me up now was the promise of the upcoming holiday― Halloween.

In my family, Halloween was a big deal. We all got dressed up and threw a family party at the house.

This year, Jake and I had been invited to a party at Nick Brenner's house. After a good amount of begging and pleading, my parents had finally given in. I had been careful to guard my thoughts from my dad about the fact that Nick's parents would be not present.

The party was to be this Friday, giving me four days to get ready.

On Tuesday afternoon, Alice took us girls shopping after school for our costumes. We went to the Halloween Emporium at the mall.

When we entered the store we were pleasantly surprised. We were met by row upon row of costumes― all different styles and shapes and colors. We were all sure to find something here.

Rosalie made her choice first. She found a skimpy little piece of fabric that some company had the nerve to call a Grecian Goddess dress.

Alice was going as Little Red Riding Hood― Slutty Red Riding Hood was more like it, though.

And my mom… Ewww! She was going as a kitten. But somehow, I didn't see how the short, tight, strapless black and pink dress she was wearing at all resembled a cat. Even the tiny little pink and black ears did nothing to convince me of the costume's intent. I didn't even want to begin thinking of my dad's reaction to her costume of choice.

Surprisingly enough, Emmett had once told me that before I was born, mom wasn't very confident around dad.

For some reason, I just couldn't see that. I couldn't imagine two people more comfortable together than my parents. It was hard to believe, especially when she was dressed like this. I don't think they had realized that Jake and I could hear them every night in the old house. Luckily, someone had thought to soundproof the walls when we bought our new house. I was immeasurably grateful to whoever this was.

I continued looking through the racks of costumes, ―running my fingers over each costume― never quite finding the perfect one. After about a half hour of looking, my hands skimmed over the perfect one. I pulled the costume off the hanger and ran to try it on.

When I emerged from the dressing room, my mother and aunts were both trying to suppress their laughter― and I knew I had found what I was looking for.

I did a few twirls in the mirror to show off my find and then I went back through the curtains to change into my regular clothes.

We quickly went to the party aisle to pick out a few things for our family's party, and then we went to the register to pay for our items.

I swear the sale guy's eyes popped almost completely out of his head when he saw our costumes. I was disgusted by the notion that he was most likely imagining us in them.

When we got home, the guys kept asking what we had bought. We considered making them wait until Halloween to see our costumes, but even we couldn't wait for them to see us. We were careful while changing not to let Edward see what we chose.

We set up our costume showing like a fashion show. Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Jake were sitting in chairs at the foot of the grand staircase.

One by one we walked down in our outfits, and one by one I heard the guys get out of their seats to go to their wives.

Yep, I was right. Even with the soundproof walls, I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. There was only so much the soundproof walls could block out. By the sound of the guys' reactions, the noise tonight would most definitely exceed the limits of the walls.

_Great._

It was my turn now to walk down the steps.

When I was within sight of everyone, I could almost feel the laughter threatening to burst out of everyone. All but one person, that is.

When I looked at Jacob, there was no humor in his face. Instead, his eyes were raking up and down my body greedily. He did not jump out of his seat as the others had when their wives had come down. Instead, he was frozen stock-still in his chair; his finger clasped around the edges of his chair like his hands would fall off if he didn't do this. Apart from his eyes, ― still running up and down my ensemble ― he wasn't moving at all.

I could feel my mouth begin pulling up at the corners.

This was sure to be a _very _happy Halloween.

* * *

**Song for this chapter: **_Hot 'n Cold_** by **_Katy Perry_

**IMPORTANT!! READ EVERYTHING BELOW!!**

**The links for the costumes are up on my profile. They are in the Starting Over Gallery link on my profile. And, yes, even Nessie's costume is there. (Evil laugh!!) See, that's how I can get you guys to view my profile and read my other stuff. Of course you'll find out next chapter what Nessie's costume is, but if you can't wait that long, check out my profile. And while you're there, read my new story. XD … I don't know if you guys will be able to tell right away what Nessie's costume is, but you'll be able to see it, at least! And I'll give you a hint: It's not what the website says it is!**

**In the next chapter, I'm thinking about maybe… doing a lemon. I'm not going to say who is involved, because that would ruin the story. But I need you guys' input. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, so if you guys could just review and tell me if you want the lemon or not, that would be appreciated. I need a lot of you guys to do this, because I want to make sure that enough of you want a lemon. Keep in mind: I won't go into all the nitty-gritty details if I do end up making a lemon, but it will be enough that the chapter will still be in good taste. Obviously, I don't have much real life experience in the matter, but I think I know what to do. (Wow, that sounded kinda off… XD) Also, if I don't do the lemon, I'll still have to write allusions to what's going on, and the chapter will be much shorter. **

**-Michelle (:**


	10. A Very Happy Halloween

**No one really responded about my lemon question, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and just wrote one anyways. :P**

**If anyone is uncomfortable reading this, PM me and I'll give you the first un-lemony part of this super-long chapter and I'll give you an overview of the second part of the chapter without any lemons.**

**A big thanks to my betas: **_Smileazf_** and **_Edwardjustproposed_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or Edward Cullen. ): But I do severely wish this wasn't the case.**

Nessie POV:

I had been right. At three o'clock in the morning, Jacob and I had had enough of that noise― so we headed out to the woods to hopefully find a better place to sleep. We were halfway out the door when my father had decided to call out,

"No funny business! I'll be checking!"

Well, that certainly would've ruined the moment― had there been any intention of that.

But sadly, no. I don't think even if my dad had given us permission to be intimate that Jacob would have given into my desires. He was firmly against the idea of our coupling― no matter how many times I had suggested otherwise. For some reason, the fact of my being six bothered him, even though I was physically mature enough to be ready.

To be honest, I had never understood Jacob's attraction to me. Growing up, he had been my best friend ― and our relationship had just developed from there. Personally, I thought he was too good for me. He always gave me what I wanted, ―well, besides _one _thing― and he was always there for me. What had I ever done to deserve such a great man?

I had stopped questioning our non-normal relationship after a while. After all, we didn't exactly come from a very normal family. Either way, I loved Jacob more than anything and I would never stop.

…And I was right ― no "funny business" had gone down that night in the woods. Unless you consider a girl cuddled up against a giant wolf "funny."

We had had to wait until Halloween day to see everyone else's costumes. We had decided to do what most of the other kids in our school were doing, and wear our costumes to school on Friday.

After Rosalie, Alice, my mom, and I had changed, they had made us wait downstairs for everyone else to get dressed.

Unfortunately, they had the mind reading vampire on their side, so we were out of luck. They also had each bought multiple outfits so that Alice wouldn't be able to tell which one they were going to wear until they had decided ― which was right before they came down.

Emmett was the first to showcase his ensemble. He was laughing all the way down the stairs ― wearing his teddy bear costume. Rosalie looked like she wasn't sure if she should laugh and be sick.

Jasper came next. At first, I thought his white coat and stethoscope indicated that he was just a doctor. That is, until Alice squealed,

"_Ooooooh!_ You look just like him!Is that Carlisle's stethoscope, too?"

Oh. So my uncle was going as my grandfather. No weirdness there or anything.

My dad, much like Emmett, had decided to dress up as his favorite meal ― a lion. My mother had made him roar for her (seductively, of course), and I thought I would have thrown up were it possible.

The appearance of my grandparents brought on quite a round of laughter. They were dressed up as Buffy and Spike from the TV show, _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. And I know it's kind of sick and ironic, but that was actually one of my favorite shows. I found the whole "human falling for the brooding vampire" bit quite endearing.

Of course, Emmett never failed to remind me of how similar that particular part of the plot line was to my parents' own previous relationship― though for some reason, I couldn't imagine it.

Emmett also had to be the one to make the joke now, obviously.

"Are you guys going as Bella and Edward, pre-Nessie?"

Carlisle chuckled before answering, "No. Actually, Nessie's costume gave us the inspiration for this one."

Emmett couldn't resist another one, "So, Esme. Are you going to slay Nessie or something?"

Ever since they had discovered that I planned on going as a vampire, the teasing from the guys hadn't stopped. The only one who hadn't made fun of me was my Jacob.

And he was coming down the staircase now.

At first, I couldn't tell what the brown, furry fabric was. It just made him look like a ball of yarn.

Then he woofed.

I couldn't help but giggle. Jake had told me stories about how my family used to call him a dog. In fact, Rosalie still often referred to him as that.

And again, in true Emmett fashion, he had to go and ruin the moment.

"Wow. How perfect. Dogs do always go around chasing the cats." He looked pointedly at my mom.

She glared back at him and I heard a low growl escape through my dad's clenched teeth. Jacob looked quite sheepish, and almost disturbed-looking.

And me… I was just plain confused.

I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, but my dad began talking really fast.

"Alright. Look at the time. We've gotta head to school now."

We all went to hug Carlisle and Esme ― Carlisle had taken the day off and would be here with Esme all day ― and then we hurried through the door and out to the garage.

When we got to school, almost everyone was in costume. The day went by quickly, filled with costume compliments and reminders of tonight's party.

At lunch, the party was all we talked about. There were more than two hundred people who planned on showing up. Nick told us that his parents still didn't even know what was going on. They were going away for the weekend and wouldn't be back until Sunday evening― giving him plenty of time to clean up the inevitable mess afterwards.

You had to hand it to the boy― he was pretty good at keeping secrets.

I had convinced the rest of my family to be "taken out to lunch" by Carlisle and Esme today, knowing full well that they would have massacred me if they knew I was planning on going to an unsupervised party.

Plus, I knew they still had yet to get this morning's antics out of their systems. Let them get it all out while I wasn't in the house. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't have to spend the next week sleeping in the forest again.

I felt a thrill of exhilaration sweep through me as I thought back to the fact that I had managed to pull off hiding something from my family. Maybe this was what all those normal, rebellious teens from the movies felt like. If this was true, then I definitely wanted to try being normal more often.

The rest of the day passed much like the beginning. I was getting really good at figuring out what people's costumes were.

When the final bell rang, I hurried to meet Jake in the hall and we walked together to the parking lot.

We talked about our days ― comparing what people had said about our outfits. People had thought his was funny, but they were a bit confused as to why a fifteen year old was dressed up as a dog.

We reached our awaiting family and climbed into the backseat of my dad's Volvo to drive towards home.

When we got to the mansion, we had just one hour to get ready. You would think this would be enough time for me to get prepared ten times over.

But oh, no! With Alice as an aunt, you could never have enough time to get primped and ready. Unfortunately, that time consisted of a little game of "Barbie-fy Nessie."

After forty five minutes of being subjected to what I can only describe as beauty torture, my mom insisted on taking pictures. Because my life had gone by a little quicker than most, my family had taken it upon themselves to document nearly every minute of it.

After posing for what felt like an eternity of photos, we were finally on our way. Somehow I had convinced my parents to let us take the Volvo.

When we pulled up to the house and saw all the people in their costumes, and heard the music blasting from the speakers inside, I squeezed Jake's hand. This was going to be my first party and I was slightly nervous.

He gave my hand a gentle squeeze back and then his body quickly crossed the small space between us in the car to press his lips softly to mine. When we finally pulled apart, we were both smiling.

He got out of the car and came around to open my door for me. I grabbed his hand and together we walked into the party.

Inside, there were people everywhere. Bodies were crammed into every available space and were swaying along to the music.

The decorations were amazing. Fake spider webs hung from every inch of the room, and all the lights were turned down. There were wall murals of dark tunnels and scary monsters. In the corner I could see a fake mummy statue, and next to it, a vampire. I had to laugh at that sight. The blood-dripping fangs and upturned cloak neck were so cliché― and I always felt like cracking up when I saw these because I knew the real truth.

Stacey Harris caught sight of me and rushed over, towing Jason Leeman by the hand.

"Hey guys," she said. "The party's great, isn't it?" she asked us, sweeping her free hand across the room. "Nick really outdid himself this year. And the decorations… just… wow!"

"Yeah," I half-yelled, trying to get my voice heard over the loud noise from the speakers and the talking party-goers. Of course, I had no trouble hearing everyone, but Stacey was another story. "For my first-ever party, this is pretty great."

She stared at me like I'd just grown another head or something. "You mean, you've never been to a party before?"

I shook my head. "Nope, this is my first."

"Well this is definitely a great way to start off. Come on, I'll show you to the food."

We followed Stacey through the crowd, dodging bodies and decorations as we went. We made our way over towards the furthest wall, stopping in front of a long table filled with various refreshments.

Stacey turned to me again.

"Try the punch. It's great."

I looked down at the big crystal bowl in front of me filled with a red liquid. I wasn't really thirsty ― more like _thirsty_.

But it wouldn't exactly seem normal for me to ask Nick if he happened to have any animal blood lying around the house. Nope… not at all conspicuous.

I settled instead for grabbing two plastic cups from the big stack next to the bowl. I poured some punch for me and Jacob, ― realizing now that it was supposed to look like blood... _of course_― and handed him his cup.

I sniffed at the funny-looking liquid before I took a sip ― it smelled kind of funky, but who was I to judge Nick's fake blood?

Surprisingly, the punch tasted pretty good. It was a bit bitter, but overall I liked it.

I looked over to see that Jake had downed his entire drink already. I giggled before finishing my own, and handed the empty cups back to Jacob.

He poured us each some more punch, and then I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the center of the room. Our bodies crashed into each other between sips of the tasty fruit punch; moving in time to the music.

Two hours ― and eight plastic cups of fake-blood-fruit-punch ― later, Jacob and I were still moving our bodies to the beat flowing out of the speakers.

He leaned down to kiss me in the hollow beneath my right shoulder blade. I felt a shudder run through me in response. He looked back up and tucked a stray curl behind my ear.

"Nessie," he whispered, "I love you." His words were slightly slurred ― I guessed it was probably from the way his body was moving against mine ― and I chuckled slightly at his imperfection. It was times like these that I actually felt worthy of the affection of this otherwise-perfect individual.

He looked slightly offended by my humor. This just made me laugh harder. He crinkled his forehead in frustration.

"No, Ness. I'm serious," his voice wavered, most likely with emotion. "I love you. I _want _you. I want you right _now_."

Wait ― Did he just say what I thought he just said? Did he seriously just admit to considering having sex with me?

I laid my palm against his face, showing him images of exactly how _I _wanted _him_. He leaned his head into my hand, kissing my wrist.

"Nessie?" He looked me straight in the eyes and I knew that behind that one word was so many others unspoken. I didn't need my father's gift to understand what he was thinking… what he was asking.

"Yes, Jacob." I answered all his unsaid questions and more with those two simple words.

He grabbed me into his arms and rushed upstairs at a speed that wouldn't cause too much suspicion with the humans.

We opened the first door we could find on the next floor. Fortunately, it was a bedroom. Jacob carried me through the door and slammed it closed behind us.

He walked us over to the king sized bed and gently laid me down on top of the comforter. He knelt over me, kissing his way from my forehead to my neck, finally coming back up to rest his mouth on my lips.

His tongue traced the outline of my lower lip, requesting entrance to the inside of my mouth. I parted my lips, slipping my tongue through his, as well. We spent a few minutes exploring the hollows and concaves of each other's mouths.

He pulled his tongue out and used it to draw a line from my jaw up to my right ear, nibbling on my earlobe for a second before letting his lips linger near my lips once again.

"Nessie," he murmured, "You know I love you." His lips brushed against mine as he spoke, sending a shiver down my spine.

"I love you, too, Jake," I breathed, not trusting my voice to go above a whisper. I knew my voice would surely break from all the lust and emotion pulsing through my body right now.

He flipped us over so that now I was kneeling over his warm, embracing body. His hands were paused at the hem of my dress, asking for permission. I nodded my head slowly, never lifting my gaze from his deep brown eyes. He stared back at me as he carefully lifted the dress up and over my head. He stopped for a second to drink in the sight of my body.

"Ness, you're absolutely gorgeous."

I blushed at his words and ducked my head down, but his warm, soft hand gripped my chin gently so our eyes met. He smiled, and I couldn't help but to return the sentiment with a grin of my own.

I leaned forward to nuzzle my face in his neck, letting my hands roam down to find the buttons of his shirt. I kept my face buried in his skin as one by one I unclasped the buttons. I pushed my hands in between the fabric, throwing both sides of the shirt back, exposing his bare chest.

I ran my hands over his hard, russet abs, tracing the shape of each muscle. His body quivered beneath mine, aiding to further escalate my feelings.

I walked my fingers down his chest, letting them dance along the waistline of his pants before quickly undoing the zipper. I helped him wiggle free of the offending piece of clothing and threw the pants over my shoulder to join our fast-growing pile of discarded clothes.

His hands slip up my back and landed on the clasp of my bra. I reached an arm around to encourage him to do what I so wished would happen. I heard a snap and the metal was unclipped and the bra tossed aside.

Jacob inhaled sharply and leaned back to get a better view. "Beautiful," he murmured quietly. Hesitantly, so achingly slowly, he brought a hand up and rested it on my stomach. I watched with trepidation and excitement as his fingers moved up, until, finally, they rested on my breast. My head fell backwards as he began his ministrations, letting his other hand join in as he traced the peaks of my chest. When the feeling within me grew to be to much and I could no longer take it, I giggled softly and threw my body forward, locking our lips together passionately.

As we kissed, we let our hands wander― exploring places we'd never explored before. I felt his hands at the waist of my panties and quickly felt my way to the opening of his underwear.

As if we were of but one mind, we nodded in unison and slid each other's last remains of clothing down our legs and off our ankles― those, too, being flung off the bed.

Jacob's fingers roamed up and down my body, finally coming to rest at my hips. He slid one arm around to the small of my back and gracefully flipped us over, reversing our positions.

He hovered over me, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Renesmee… are you sure you want to do this? We could always stop…." He trailed off, looking as if he wished the answer would be no.

I smiled at his formal use of my name and looked up at him, tracing the tips of my fingers over his cheekbones― showing him with my thoughts, in my own special way, that I was ready for this.

He slowly slid himself into me, and I winced at the slight bursts of unexpected pain. But, with each thrust of his hips, he went deeper and deeper into my body, and the pain gradually faded to be replaced by pure lust.

I found myself bucking my hips up to meet him now; we had created a sort of rhythm to our movements by this point.

The frantic beatings of both our hearts droned out most noises. The only sounds that made themselves known to my ears were the groans that worked their way up our throats, occasionally coming out as growls.

Every few minutes Jacobs would bend down and his lips would envelop mine in a fervent kiss.

I threw my head back to meet the pillows and my back arched up off the bed as my body was suddenly racked with unrestrained trembles.

"Jacob," I breathed, my voice coming out low and husky. "Oh, Jacob, I love you."

When my body had calmed down slightly, my brain started working again and forming slightly more coherent thoughts. I had learned enough in health class to realize I had just experienced my first orgasm.

My lips pulled up in a smile as I realized that this would surely not be my last. I figured if sex was this good, I was definitely willing to continue doing it more often with Jacob.

I buried my face in Jake's hair as he hid his face in my neck. A moan escaped his perfect lips and he nestled himself closer to me. I felt his body convulse as he experienced his own climax, yelling my name as he reached his peak of euphoria. I felt him spill into me and we just lay that way for a few moments until he slowly and carefully extracted himself from me.

He smiled down at me and bent his hand down to brush a strand of hair from my sweaty cheek.

He moved to lie next to me on the bed and I felt his warm arms surround my body.

"That was amazing, Ness." I could feel his hot breath against the back of my neck.

"Jake, I feel the same way. It was just," I sighed, "…indescribable."

I felt content where I was; I could have stayed forever in Jacob's arms and never would have found a reason to leave.

I should have known that fate was not so kind.

The door whipped open with an ear-splattering WHAM! and both our heads flew up to search for the intruder on our perfect heaven. My face froze as my brain registered a moment too late who stood in the doorway of the borrowed bedroom.

The look on my father's face would have been enough to scare even the devil himself. His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides as he tried to control his breathing.

"_Renesmee Carlie Cullen_." His measured, angry voice cut like steel through my bliss.

Oh shit. This could not get any worse.

But apparently, my thoughts had spoken too soon. For as soon as the words had left his mouth, the doorway was suddenly very filled…

…with every single one of my "siblings."

**Songs for this chapter: First half: **_Disturbia _**by**_ Rihanna_

**Second half: **_Your Call _by _Secondhand Serenade_

**This is the first time I've ever written a lemon, so tell me what you guys think. If you guys hadn't already guessed, I haven't much experience in my own life with this, so I'm not sure if I got it completely right. **

**Just so you all know, Nessie does not know about Jacob's imprinting. She just knows that they are together. Also, she does not know the extent of Jacob's previous relationship with her mother. In fact ― she knows nothing of this. XD**

**Also, I couldn't find the pictures of the costumes for Esme and Carlisle**―** and Jasper's costume doesn't actually exist. (Although I wholeheartedly wish it did XD) I also couldn't find anything for Jacob. But don't worry… Edward and Emmett's costumes are up on the gallery.**

**Happy reviewing!**

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


	11. Distractions

**I spent the weekend at my grandparents' because my parents were away who-knows-where doing who-knows-what. (All I know is my mother was seen carrying 5 bottles of wine upstairs to her suitcase when she packed… EWW!! D; ) And my grandparents' house… not so much fun… **

**But there **_is_** something that could cheer me up: a few nice reviews. (:**

**Also, I'm now beta-ing for **_Miss Vampire Freak_**, and **_GoldenVampireEyes_** has asked if I would like to do some beta work. Their stuff is awesome! You should check them out! This chapter is for you two!**

**GoldenVampireEyes, I asked the story and it said yes! Now your husband is the only thing in the way. XD**

**Thanks to **_Edwardjustproposed _**and **_Smileazf _**for being my betas. :D**

**Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, and therefore Edward (A.K.A. Sexylicious Man-God) is not mine. ):**

Edward's POV:

I looked over at the clock for the millionth time that night. It was midnight, and Bella was curled up on my lap on the couch in the living room, reading a book. She addressed me without taking her eyes off of the page.

"Edward, sweetheart, don't worry; their fine. I'm sure they're just having too much fun to come home to their boring old family. Plus, it's Nessie's first party; of course she wants it to last long."

Nessie and Jake were still at Nick's party, and they hadn't even called us yet. It didn't help the situation that Alice couldn't _see_ them. But my family kept insisting that I was being overprotective. So what? A father had the right to worry about his teenage daughter.

I bent down to kiss the top of Bella's head. She quickly tossed the book to the other side of the couch and whipped her body around so that her legs were now straddling my waist. Her lips came down hard on my own, causing my breath to escape out of my mouth in surprise. She crushed her body into my own, twisting her fingers into my hair. Her tongue traced my lips and I opened them as I slipped my tongue into her mouth as well. After a minute or two, I pulled it out from between her lips. I smiled against her mouth and took a deep breath to regain control of my body.

"Nice try, Bella, but you're not going to distract me."

"Oh, really?" she asked, a seductive little smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

I laughed and placed my palm against her neck, running my thumb over her full bottom lip.

"Well… you might distract me," I'd give _that_ to her, "but I'll be worried the entire time."

She sighed then and sat up, pulling me with her. She pointed to the clock.

"See that; it says 12: 03. In fifty-seven minutes, when the clock reads 1:00 A.M., we can call Nessie if she's not back yet. But until then― Leave. Them. Alone."

"Okay, then. How about a compromise?" I offered. Bella rolled her eyes and I just knew that she was groaning in her head.

"Yes, dear?"

"Well, I propose we wait until 1:00, and then we go pick them up."

She looked at me speculatively.

"Edward," she was talking to me as if I were a confused child, "you do realize that they have a car with them, right?"

"Yes, but _Bella_," I protested, whining back just like the child she was treating me as, "they'll be too tired to drive themselves home. They'll be all partied-out. What if they get into an accident?"

Bella raised an eyebrow at me, but finally relented.

"Fine," she exhaled exasperatedly, "If they are not back by 1 AM, we can go pick them up from the party. But we'll have to go by foot, so we can drive them back in the Volvo. Does that make you happy?"

I smiled and nodded my approval.

"And Bella," I continued, my voice coming out low and guttural, "I don't mind if you distract me now."

I pulled her back down on top of my body. After all, we did have fifty-seven minutes to spare.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Bella continued on distracting me until two in the morning. I hadn't gotten up at one, even though Bella had informed me of the time. Even when my angel insisted that she, too, was a bit nervous about the time, I was reluctant to stop.

And then Bella lifted her shield and let me see into her thoughts, lingering on those of Nessie. I sighed and grudgingly untangled myself from beneath Bella.

"Okay, let's go," I said as I stood up off the couch, yanking my clothes back into place. I pulled Bella along with me towards the front door. I called back up the stairs to my family, not bothering to raise my voice above that of a normal conversational tone.

"We're leaving to go pick up Jacob and Nessie. We'll be back soon."

"Wait!" I could hear Emmett open his bedroom door, and in the next second he was standing in front of me.

"Emmett," said Bella, "what do you need?" I could hear the answer in his thoughts, but he still spoke it aloud for Bella's sake.

"I wanna come with you guys. I've never actually been to a party before, you know. I really want to see what it looks like."

"Emmett," she answered, raising an eyebrow at him, "This isn't like one of those wild events you see in the movies. This is a fairly small group of children getting in the Halloween spirit in the presence of chaperones."

"Well," Emmett began, laughing heartily, "I've never been to one of those either."

I sighed; I was getting anxious, and I couldn't hide the impatience in my voice as I responded.

"Emmett, must we make this a family outing?"

I regretted the words as soon as I'd spoken them. I heard the footsteps accompany the thoughts down the stairway, and I groaned.

Rosalie took her place next to Emmett, and Alice danced her way over, her fingers intertwined with Jasper's.

"Why, Edward… what a great suggestion," Alice giggled innocently. I rolled my eyes at her and turned around towards the door. I took in a deep breath and addressed my siblings as I opened the door.

"Whatever, you guys can come. But we're walking there." I could hear the anticipation in their thoughts. What did they expect to see at this party anyway… _booze and_ _sex_? I laughed at the thought and pulled Bella through the door with me and into the cool autumn night― or would morning be more appropriate?

We took off running into the night, six blurred figures hidden by the shadows of the darkness. We slowed down to a walk as we rounded the corner to Nick's house. As we walked towards the tall green house, I froze suddenly.

For in that moment, about three things I was absolutely positive.

First, there were no parents at this party.

Second, there was alcohol present. I didn't need to listen to the slurred thoughts of the partygoers to know this; I could smell it in their bloodstreams.

And third, Jacob and Renesmee were upstairs; having just done something no father ever wants their daughter to do ― especially at the age of six.

My muscles finally thawed and I locked my hands into tight fists, keeping them close to my sides. My vision was tinted red by my anger, and I ignored my family's frantic questioning.

I marched right up to the house and through the door, heading straight for the stairs.

The slightly garbled thoughts of the people around me rang in my ears.

_Oh, damn. Nessie and Jake are gonna get it._

_He looks so pissed. I hope there's not a fight._

_My bet's on Cullen. He looks like he wants to kill someone right now._

_Wow. Talk about bad timing._

_I can't believe their brother is here. Wait till he sees what's going on upstairs._

The fact that Renesmee's peers knew what had gone down somehow managed to fuel my already raging fury. I clenched and unclenched my jaw in an attempt to calm myself a bit as I walked up to the door of the room where I knew Jacob and Renesmee were. I could smell the alcohol running through their veins. I heard the rest of my family enter the house, their thoughts a mixture of panic and concern.

I took one more deep breath before reaching for the doorknob and throwing the door open with one swift, deft motion.

The scene inside was enough to scar me for life. Jacob lay on the bed, his bare backside facing me. I could see a bit of Renesmee's face from over his shoulder.

In the same moment, both their heads turned to look at me, and I watched the changes in their expressions as they realized who I was. The emotions flitted across their faces so fast, it may have even been comical― if the situation were not what it currently was.

_Alarm, annoyance, anger, shock, fear, embarrassment, fear again, horror, distress, dread, terror, panic, and fear yet again._

I tried to keep my voice steady to avoid running over and ripping Jacob's head from his body. Though, at the moment, that idea did not seem too bad.

"_Renesmee Carlie Cullen." _The thoughts ran through their head almost as fast as their expressions had danced across their faces.

Jacob was keeping up a steady stream of mental curses, and Renesmee was just plain mortified.

_Oh, shit_, she thought. _This could not get any worse._

As soon as she thought these words, I felt the air around me stir as Bella, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie joined me in the doorway.

Jacob hurried to grab the quilt and threw it over Renesmee and himself.

Emmett laughed, but there was no humor in the sound― only darkness and warning.

"Looks like the dog has finally stopped chasing the cat." I turned around to glare at him, but found that his eyes ― now black, bottomless slits ― were trained on Jacob in a death glare.

"I'd run right now if I were you, _dog_," Rosalie snarled the last word, "while you still have legs to run away with."

**Song for this chapter: **_Holiday_ **by** _Greenday_

**Boy, is Jacob screwed! XD **

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review! My new story has half as many chapters, but the same number as reviews. I'm trying to boost this one. XD  
**

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


	12. A Day of Many Firsts

**Sorry guys! I was having computer issues so I couldn't update for the last two days! Speaking of which, my computer crashed, so readers of **_Promises had Broken_**, you may have to wait a day or two for that update.**

**Also, I just got spacers put in yesterday, in preparation for braces. It hurts like no other mother! I can barely chew! Arghhh! But you know what will cheer me up? Reviews!**

**I'm really hoping you guys can get me to 100 reviews on this chapter. Look how close it is! Only 11 more to go!**

**Thanks to **_Edwardjustproposed_** and **_Smileazf_** for being awesome betas!**

**Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just messing with their futures. XD**

Nessie's POV:

I cringed at the harsh words coming from my family's mouths. Why did they think it was all Jacob's fault? I had participated just as much as he had.

The anger at my family members quickly faded, to be replaced by red hot embarrassment. Here I was, sitting in bed _naked_, with a guy. And there was my family, staring right at us! I had to do something. My anger returned in a whirlwind.

"_Dad,_ _get out of here_!" It sounded like a shriek, but I knew he could understand me. "What I do is none of your business! Technically, I'm almost an adult as far as anyone else knows. I can make my own decisions. Plus, do you think I don't know what you and Mom do every night?! How do you think I was made?!"

My dad's fury didn't seem to ebb.

"Renesmee, your mother and I are married. Married couples have a right to… you know…," he trailed off, looking a bit uncomfortable. I decided to help him out.

"Do you mean… _have sex_?" My mother's nod was almost imperceptible. But I wasn't finished yet with my tirade.

"If that's what you mean," my voice was back to its previous tone of shrieking, but I kept the volume down for the sake of the humans downstairs, "then I've got something to tell you. This is the twenty-first century! This isn't the nineteen hundreds, Dad! Or whatever era the rest of you came from! Things are done differently now. So can you _PLEASE_ get out so we can get some clothes on?!"

My family had just enough respect left for me to accept my wishes. As they left the room, one by one, they each threw a glare at Jacob. I glared right back at them, for Jacob's eyes seemed to be permanently glued to the floor.

"I'm s-so s-sorry, Ness," he managed to sputter out when we were alone.

I heard my father's last words as he had stomped down the steps, "We'll be waiting in the car. You have exactly three minutes before we come back up there and drag you two down here."

I responded to Jacob's words as I started slipping back on my clothing. I could see he was doing the same. "Jacob, it's not in any way your fault. Did you hear me tell you 'no', did you see me trying to stop you? If anything, it's our family's fault for not respecting our privacy."

By now, I had begun breathing quite raggedly. The events of the past few minutes kept replaying over and over again in my head, bringing on fresh rounds of hysteria. Jacob crossed the room at once and pulled me into his warm embrace. I leaned my head on his chest, and he kissed the top of my hair. We had two minutes left, and I spent a full sixty seconds crying out all my tears before Jacob lifted my chin with his finger, and kissed away all the moisture.

He dropped his hand from my face and intertwined the fingers on my left hand with his own. We walked towards the door like this and I reached unsteadily for the doorknob, twisting the door out of our way.

We marched down the stairs, and I could almost hear the cynical sound of the dirge matching our tempo. We made our way through the bodies downstairs, avoiding the many different looks we were thrown.

We walked outside and I shuddered at the change in temperature, not that the cold was really uncomfortable to me― just different. Jacob's hand disentwined from my own and twisted around my waist, drawing me closer to his body. I heard a growl come from the Volvo, and then Jake's hands were no longer touching my body. He took a tiny sidestep away from me and I grimaced at the loss of contact.

When Jake opened the door to the car, I was surprised to see that only my parents were present. My father answered my unspoken thoughts.

"There wasn't enough room in the car for everyone, so they decided to run home instead."

My answering words came out sounding quite harsh, "It wouldn't have been the first time we all had to squeeze."

This was true ― we had all piled into the tiny Volvo together countless times. I knew the true reason they hadn't stayed to drive home with us. They were either afraid of the conversation that was sure to occur on the drive home, or they thought my parents should be the ones to have the conversation with us. I mentally cursed them for leaving us alone, forgetting that my father could hear it. He looked at me with cold eyes.

Jacob and I slid into the backseat, but kept our distance. We knew it was for the better.

To my surprise, the ride home was silent. The only sounds were those of Jake's and my heartbeats and breathing. We didn't offer any words, nor did my parents.

We pulled up into the meadow and my father didn't even bother driving around to the garage. We drove right up to the front of the porch steps and my dad cut the engine.

I jumped out of the car and pulled Jake out after me, leaving no time for my parents to talk to us. We walked hurriedly to the door and slipped inside the house, walking straight for the stairs. I noticed that no one was around― I could hear them all whispering in their bedrooms, talking about me and Jacob.

"Hold up there, young lady. Where do you think you're going?" The sound of my mother's steeled voice made me pause. Jacob gripped my hand tighter.

"I was going to my room." The uncertainty in my tone won out over my defiance.

"I don't think so," my mother said. "I'm pretty sure you two have some explaining to do. Starting with why you were at an unsupervised party… drinking _alcohol._" She made the final word sound like a curse.

Wait, what was she talking about? We hadn't drunk any compromising drinks. I looked at Jake, but he just shrugged back at me. Apparently, he didn't know what she was talking about either.

"Mom, what do you mean? The only thing we drank was some fruit punch!"

She looked at me pointedly, and suddenly, it all came together for me.

"Oh! It was spiked, wasn't it?" So that explained why we had been a bit slow, and why Jacob had suddenly crossed all our boundaries. I began to wonder if Jake had really wanted to be with me, or if he was only acting on the alcohol….

"So, what do you two have to say for yourselves?" I was brought out of my despaired thoughts by my mom's questioning.

Then, out of the blue, my dad appeared at my mom's side.

"No, Bella; let them go upstairs." I was surprised by his words, and seemingly, so was my mother. She opened her mouth to say something, but he looked at her meaningfully, and I knew that they were communicating with their looks.

She nodded and looked at us before leading her gaze towards the upper floor.

"Bed. Now. Both of you. And Renesmee, you'll be sleeping in our room tonight."

Jacob looked at the ground as he pulled me along to the stairs. We climbed up two stories before he hugged me tight. When he pulled away, I grasped onto his shirt even tighter.

"Nessie, darling, don't worry. It will all be okay." And looking into his eyes, I knew this was true. I knew that as long as we were together, everything would truly be alright.

He kissed both my cheeks before turning to walk into our bedroom. I walked grudgingly down the hall towards my parents' room, and sighed as I opened the door.

I flopped down on the bed and closed my eyes, trying to forget about everything that had happened tonight. There was only one part I wanted to keep forever in my memory, but with my father downstairs reading my thoughts, I thought it best to put that on the back burner for a bit. I'd think about that again when I was alone. I could only push my father so far in one night.

I fell asleep quickly that night, my slumber plagued with nightmares. When I woke up in the middle of the night crying, I had felt my mother's cool arms around me, comforting me back to sleep. Apparently, she was forgiving enough to soothe me. I felt guilty when I had only cried harder, because I had wished those cool arms could be the warm ones I loved so much.

When I awoke in the morning, I kept my eyes shut as I felt around blindly for the hand that welcomed me each morning. When I couldn't feel his hot hand, my eyes flew open as I suddenly remembered where I was and what had happened since yesterday morning, which was the last time I had caught his fingers up in mine when I woke.

The memories came flooding back in a torrent, but for some reason, the ones from last night seemed just a bit more blurry. I knew exactly why that was, and I once again cursed whoever had snuck alcohol into the drinks at the party. Although, without their "help," who knows when I would have consummated my relationship with Jacob.

I put those thoughts out of my mind, remembering that my dad was downstairs. I wondered if he and my mother would mind if I saw Jacob right now. They hadn't expressly mentioned that we couldn't see each other in the morning. Keeping this shred of hope in mind, I ambled down the hall towards my bedroom, trying to keep casual. My parents didn't even come upstairs, even though I was positive my father knew where I was headed.

Jacob was just stirring as I opened the door. His head looked up and he flashed me a smile, alighting my insides in a raging fire.

He must have remembered last night, too, for suddenly, he was no longer smiling.

I went over and laid down on the bed, curling up into Jacob's side.

He leaned over and kissed me quickly on the lips before snuggling closer to me.

Suddenly, I was overcome with a wave of nausea, and I rushed across the room and into our bathroom, just making it to the toilet in time to throw up.

Jacob was there at once, holding my hair back and telling me it would be over soon. And it was over… five minutes later.

"Jacob," I said. "This is weird. I've never thrown up before in my life."

He chuckled lightly, gloomily, before answering me. "Nessie, that's because you've never downed ten glasses of liquor in two hours before."

I opened my mouth to protest, but I was overcome by another round of queasiness. I turned back to the porcelain bowl and once again emptied my insides.

When I finally resurfaced, I sighed. I knew today was going to be a long day. I didn't need Alice's powers to know that.

**Song for this chapter: **_Waking up in Vegas_** by **_Katy Perry_

**I know Renesmee seemed a bit harsh in the beginning of this chapter, but she was just caught in bed by her family, and then her family was threatening the guy she loved.**

**Please help me get 100 reviews for this story! Thanks, guys! I really love you all!**

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


	13. I Think I'd Rather You Bite My Head Off

**Yay! This story officially has over 100 reviews! You guys rock!**

**Sorry for the late update. It's the end of the school quarter, so I've been working hard to finish all my big projects.**

**Thanks to **_Edwardjustproposed_** and **_Smileazf_** for being the best betas!**

**Disclaimer: I can't think of a disclaimer for this chapter that will tell you guys that I don't own Twilight. Oh wait… I just did! XD**

Jacob's POV:

I held her hair back, telling her not to worry― it would all be over soon. This continued for five full minutes.

"Jacob," she said to me. "This is weird. I've never thrown up before in my life."

I gave a dark little laugh and answered her, pulling her hair over one shoulder. "Nessie, that's because you've never downed ten glasses of liquor in two hours before." I had been just as surprised as her yesterday when Bella had told us that we had drank alcohol― but looking back now, I was surprised it had taken me so long to realize.

She opened her mouth as if to object, but suddenly, she halted her movements and flashed her head back to the toilet. I grabbed her hair once again and stroked her back lovingly.

I heard a growl coming from downstairs, and I knew this was the moment I had been waiting for since Edward had walked in on mine and Nessie's… private moment.

He spoke quietly and calculatedly, and I was sure it sounded scarier than the loudest and sharpest that he could scream.

"Jacob Black, get your furry ass down here right this instant." I cringed slightly at his choice of words, whispered my love to Renesmee, and stood up carefully.

When I was halfway out the door, Nessie suddenly stood up and gasped deeply. I reeled around quickly to face her, taking in her frightened expression and crossing the bathroom to her in less than a second.

"Jacob!" Her whispers were frantic and I wound my arms around her waist and tucked her head against my chest protectively.

"Nessie, what is it? What's wrong, angel?"

She pulled back slightly to look me straight in the eyes.

"Jake, you don't think that I could be…." She trailed off sheepishly and looked away, an appealing rose color appearing under her cheekbones. I heard Edward hiss from downstairs, and I placed a finger under her chin, lifting her face towards mine.

"Ness, tell me. What is troubling you, love?" Another hiss from Edward. Her face stayed up, but her eyes darted down self-consciously.

"Well, you don't think that I'm… pregnant… do you?" I chuckled at her anxious face and she glared at me.

"What's so funny, Jacob?" I kissed her lightly on the forehead before answering her.

"Renesmee, sweetheart, you know you can't have a baby. Your body has stopped changing. You have nothing to be worried about."

Her expression softened, and she relaxed visibly in my arms.

We had long ago resigned ourselves to the fact that Nessie and I wouldn't be able to reproduce. The only way would be if we had procreated before she was done growing, and it had been a mutual decision that she had not been ready to give birth at seven years old. Plus, she didn't even menstruate, so we weren't sure if it would even be _possible_ for her to have children. It may well have been feasible― I mean, anything was achievable with my Renesmee. But we didn't want to take any chances. In the beginning, we had been a bit upset about this, but we knew that as long as we had each other, the rest didn't really matter.

I held her closer for a moment when I felt her nod against my chest and sniffle. I looked down at her at once, alarmed.

"Nessie, are you crying?" I could see that she indeed was.

"No," she whimpered.

"Oh, Ness," I murmured. I leaned down and gently brushed the tears from her face with my lips.

I heard Edward growl more loudly this time from downstairs. I groaned mentally and tightened my grip on Nessie momentarily before letting go and turning back for the door.

"Good luck," Nessie said. I smiled despite myself and made my way downstairs.

"Wipe that smirk off of your face, dog." Okay, so maybe I wasn't exactly on the top of Edward's favorite persons list at the moment.

"Sit down." He pointed to a spot on the couch across from his seat on the white leather armchair. I obeyed, placing my hands on either side of my rigid body as I sat down.

"You know as well as I do what went on last night," he said, resentment so very obvious in his tone.

My thoughts wandered back to last night's occurrences, and I was a bit discouraged to find that everything was just a bit indistinct and fuzzy.

"Jacob," he basically spat my name. "I'm doing all I can right now not to rip your head from your body― I know Renesmee would not be too pleased with me if I did. So if I were you, I wouldn't do anything to provoke me right now."

I gulped and nodded meekly.

"So, where was I?" I shrugged my shoulders imperceptibly, trying not to give him another reason to hate me currently.

"Oh, that's right. We were having a nice little discussion." My eyes bugged out at his words. If he thought this was 'nice,' I'd hate to be on his bad side today.

"Jacob, you are twenty-three years old now― physically older― but a part of you is still stuck at sixteen. Obviously, you are going to have… erm… _urges."_

Oh. My. God! Was Edward seriously giving me "the Talk" right now?

I squirmed in my seat, trying to avoid his piercing gaze.

My thoughts automatically shifted back to last night, but I was quickly brought out of my reverie by an angry snarl from Edward.

"Um, Edward? Do we seriously need to do this?" This was beyond awkward, worse than any punishment I could have imagined I would have to face today― even worse than having my head pulled off. In fact, I think I'd rather him do that than give me the _sex talk_.

"Obviously this is necessary, Jacob." He tried to keep his voice fierce, but I could just detect the undercurrent of discomfort.

"So, as I was saying before," he continued, "there are urges that you are bound to be feeling. There are more… um… _discreet_… ways to control those urges― ways that don't involve my seven year old daughter."

I felt my face burning as red as Bella's used to get, and the only _urge_ I had right now was to shoot myself― multiple times. I had to do something about this.

"Edward, dude, you're like, my age!" I tried to disguise my chagrin as indignity.

"Jacob," He looked uneasy, and I felt slightly better as I realized that he was struggling with this as well. "Would you rather we had this discussion elsewhere?"

"Actually, Edward, I'd prefer we didn't have this discussion _period_!" I hadn't thought I could blush any more profusely, but apparently, I was only getting started.

"Unfortunately, Jacob, that isn't an option. You got yourself into this… now you have to face the consequences. Would you rather I rip your head off?"

"Actually Edward, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea right now."

"Jacob," Edward sighed heavily, visibly trying to control himself. "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. Now right now, my daughter is upstairs, listening to our every word. Do you really want to talk about this in front of her?"

I sighed, "No. Not really."

"That's what I thought." He stood up silently and walked out of the house. I followed him, keeping my eyes glued to the floor.

When we were safely outside, he took off for the trees. I had no clue what place he had in his mind for this particular conversation, but I dashed after him nonetheless.

He arrived at our destination 10 minutes before I did.

"Damn, Cullen. Could you have maybe slowed down a bit back there?" He looked straight at me before answering.

"I want to get this over with just as much as you do, Jacob." I nodded and made my way over to a fallen tree, sitting down on one of its many enormously thick branches.

He remained standing, which didn't help with the whole comfort thing.

"So, ummm… Jacob, it appears as though you have some… _needs_." I groaned. This could **not** get any worse.

Apparently, it could.

"I've…uh… heard some of your thoughts. I see you know how to erm… _relieve_ yourself."

I dropped my head into my heads and shook my head. Then, suddenly, a rather unorthodox question popped up into my head. I hadn't even planned on asking it aloud, but damn Edward and his damn mind-reading.

"Well, in answer to your question," I looked up at Edward's words, raising one eyebrow questioningly at him, "before Bella was changed… there were times when I… well… you know…" he trailed off gesturing his right hand in a circular motion as if to portray his words.

I was shocked. Edward, Mr. Perfect Gentleman, the immaculate God who never did anything wrong, he…

"So, you had wanks in honor of your human girlfriend?" I couldn't contain the laughter as it shook my body. To my surprise, Edward joined in with the chuckling.

"Well, Jacob, you jacked off to a seven year old― whose father happened to be in the house at the time, reading your thoughts." He had me there― I couldn't really judge him now.

He walked over and sat down on the log next to me, patting my back comradely.

"So," he said. "I guess we both really are stuck in teenage boys' bodies."

"Yeah," I replied, "We're definitely messed up." I laughed again and reached around to pat the arm he had casually slung around my shoulder.

Of all the things that Edward and I could ever have in common, this was certainly the last thing I ever would have thought.

**Songs for this chapter: **

**First part: **_Right Here_** by **_Brandy_

**Second part: **_Stronger_** by **_Kanye West_

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. If you did, please review and let me know. There are a lot of favorites and alerts on this story, and if even half of you guys left sentence-long reviews, I'd be a very happy person.**

**Lots of love and Edward Kisses,**

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


	14. Different Routes

**I hadn't done my English homework for more than a month because I always skipped it in favor of writing and/or reading fanfics. So I spent the last week catching up on that. Sorry it took so long.**

**I have a new story. It's called **_The Melody Haunts My Reverie_**. It's from Edward's POV from after he comes back in New Moon, starting with the night they get back from Italy. It deals with Edward and Bella readjusting to each other after that time. It delves into Edward earning back Bella's trust, and Bella getting over her inevitable newfound abandonment issues. There are also extensive flashbacks to the night Edward told his family they were leaving, Edward's time without Bella, and Edward in Italy. Please read it!**

**Thanks to my amazing betas! **_Edwardjustproposed_** and **_Smileazf_**!**

Jacob's POV:

For some odd reason, I actually felt a bit better after talking with Edward. Sure, it was definitely the most awkward conversation of my entire life, but it was also sort of a relief.

He raced ahead of me back to the house, and I followed at a leisurely human pace.

As I walked, I thought. I thought about how lucky I was to have Nessie in my life, and how much she truly meant to me. I contemplated how the situation may have turned out if Bella had, in fact, listened to Edward and me and had given up the baby; I shivered when I realized that my life may have been without my Nessie. I couldn't imagine that now. She seemed such a part of me, of my life― it was hard to imagine life before her. It was like I hadn't truly _had_ a life before her. I could feel a stray tear trail down across my cheek, and I raised my hand to wipe it away.

A sudden thought hit me just then.

What if Bella had gone the other route? What if she had decided to have a baby with me, instead? What if she hadn't even picked Edward; what if she had married me and we had had a child?

Would I have imprinted on my own daughter?

The shudder this time ran deeper, coursing through my entire body. I broke into a sprint and ran the rest of the way back to the mansion― the faster to get back to my love.

When I reached the house, I ran straight up to the bedroom I shared with Nessie. She was lying on the bed, curled over on her side. One arm was wrapped around her stomach, and the other was in a fist that she had thrown over her eyes. I noticed Bella sitting on the edge of the bed, grasping a small garbage pail in one hand. She was stroking Nessie's back, which happened to be facing her, with her other hand.

When I walked in the room, Bella scooted over on the bed and patted the bit of blanket next to her. I understood and walked wordlessly over and sat down.

"Hey, sweetheart." I twisted my body so that I was facing Nessie's back.

"Ughhh," she groaned.

I made eye contact with Bella and she silently placed the garbage pail on the ground and walked out. She threw a cautionary glance over her shoulder before she left.

I rolled over onto the bed and faced Renesmee's back. I rubbed comforting patterns onto her back and snaked an arm around her waist. She twisted in my arms to face me.

"I'm sorry," she said. I leaned in closer to her face.

"What in the world are you sorry for, Ness?"

She sniffled.

"For ruining your day. And for getting you in trouble with my dad." Then, she did the most bizarre thing. She burst out crying. I froze for a second, uncertain of what to do. I settled for drawing her closer and tucking her face under my chin, against my chest. I patted her back awkwardly.

"Nessie, love, it's not your fault." The situation happened to be just the slightest bit entertaining, so stupidly enough, I giggled.

Bad idea.

She started crying harder and pushed away from me. I wound my arms around her again and pulled her to me so that our chests were pressed up to each other.

"Now _I'm_ sorry, Nessie. I shouldn't have laughed." I leaned down to kiss her, but she shifted her face out of the way at the last second, leaving me to kiss the air where her lips had previously been.

"I just threw up, Jake. You don't want to kiss me right now."

"_Wrong_," I said. "I _always_ want to kiss you. Never forget that." I gently placed my hands on either side of her soft angel's face and guided her mouth towards mine.

About two seconds later, I heard a voice call out to me.

"Jacob Black." Edward's voice sounded reproachful. "I let you somewhat off the hook before. Don't make me come up there now."

With a resigned sigh I pulled my faced back from Nessie's. This time, she grasped _my_ face between her tiny palms.

"What did he mean by 'I let you somewhat off the hook.'?" My eyes just about bugged out of my head at the sound of her perfect imitation of her father's voice. That's something no man wants to hear coming from his girlfriend's mouth.

"Well," I began, trying to keep my voice steady as the shock wore off. "He didn't kill me." My voice rose a bit at the end and I shrugged my shoulders. Her perfect brows joined together in confusion on her forehead.

"Clarify," she said, raising up those brows.

"Ummm…" was all I could offer, biting my lip nervously.

"You probably don't want to hear it, Renesmee," Edward called from downstairs. I could feel my face flushing the color of a bright red tomato.

"But, like he said," he continued, the humor creeping into his voice as it threatened to teeter off into laughter. "He's still alive. Isn't that what really matters?"

I rolled my eyes at his words, hoping to hide my chagrin.

"Oh…" Nessie said, trailing off and looking away, feigning boredom. I could tell she didn't want to hear about our conversation just as much as I didn't want to tell her about it. Obviously, she understood what the gist of it had been. At that thought, the heat intensified in my cheeks.

Just at that moment, Alice burst through the door and came bounding over to us. We sat up at the sound of her entrance.

"It's a perfect day for shopping!" she squealed, clapping her hands together in excitement.

Bella ran in behind her.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I tried to stop her, but that pixie is just so darn persistent."

Alice slapped Bella's arm playfully and then took a step closer to the bed. Nessie flopped back down onto the comforter.

"Please, Alice," she moaned. "Not today. It's not really a great day for shopping today."

"Nonsense!" Alice exclaimed, rushing over and pulling Nessie up. "_Every_day is a great day for shopping."

"Alice," Bella chastised. "Renesmee isn't feeling all too well today. Perhaps we can go shopping tomorrow, when my daughter isn't suffering from a massive hangover."

Bella raised her eyebrows at Nessie as she said this, just daring her to chasten her about the choice of words. Of course, Ness didn't say a single word; she looked down and pretended to be fascinated by a grain line in the wooden floor.

"Fine," Alice harrumphed, jutting out her lower lip in an impossibly hard pout and folding her arms across her chest. "We can go tomorrow."

I sighed jadedly and rolled my eyes.

Alice's head whisked around to face me.

"And I _will_ hold you to that, Jacob Black."

Oh, goody! An entire day of shopping with Alice….

**Song for this chapter: **_Untouched _**by **_The Veronicas_

**Sorry for the filler. I have this entire story planned out in my head, but now I just need to execute it correctly, starting with the set up. (And, yes! It does have an actual plot! XD)**

**Twilight the movie in just 4 days! I'm seeing it on Thursday night for the midnight premiere. What about you guys?**

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


	15. History's Greatest Mystery

**Please read the AN at the bottom.**

**Thanks a bazillion muchos to **_Smileazf_** and **_Edwardjustproposed_** for being really amazing betas!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I'm just screwin' around with their futures. XD**

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Jacob's POV:

I watched as Alice and Bella filed out the door and I stayed where I was until I could no longer see them anymore. As soon as they were gone completely, I stood up and walked up behind Nessie slowly, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind and leaning my chin onto her shoulder. I turned my face towards her and nuzzled her neck, planting soft kisses every so often. I tilted forward once more to kiss her cheek this time, but as I did so, she spun quickly in my arms so that she was facing me, and my lips locked with hers.

She was eager, that much was clear. Almost at once, her mouth parted, allowing me entrance. Our tongues danced lithely for a few seconds, until, heeding Edward's previous warnings, I pulled back gently.

She folded her arm across her chest and glowered. I couldn't help but smile at how adorable and childlike she looked when she wore that expression.

I patted her shoulders with both hands and chuckled softly. "Let's not push your dad too far, dear. I rather do like my head where it is. I've grown quite attached to it."

That pulled a smile out of her, albeit reluctantly. But she couldn't help but giggle at my words. I threw my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"Come on, Ness. Let's go downstairs and see what Emmett's up to."

…xxXxx…

The next morning when I woke, my headache felt significantly better. I felt around instinctively for Nessie's hand. I sat up in confusion when I couldn't find it and ran a hand over my face, trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes.

Then I remembered where Nessie was. She had slept in her parents' room last night. They still didn't trust us together, and Nessie still wasn't feeling up to par. I had given in without a fight ― what was one night compared to the eternity we had in front of us?

I got out of bed and dressed quickly, throwing on the first outfit I could find in my drawers.

Just then, a ferocious little pixie stormed into my room. Because who doesn't want Alice to be the first person they see in the morning?

"Oh, no, Jacob Black. There is _no way_ I am letting you walk out of the house wearing that. Just think what people will say about us!" The look of absolute terror on her face was comical and I laughed at her horrorstruck face.

"Good morning to you, too, Alice."

She just glared at me. "Nuh-uh." She shook her head so fast that the spiky little mess just became one big, black blur. "Turn around and march your furry butt back into your closet. _I'm_ picking out your outfit today."

"Sheesh," I retorted, shaking my head with mock aggravation― well, maybe it wasn't so much a ruse as reality… "What's with everyone commenting on the furry stature of my rump lately?"

"Not funny, Jake. If I had been able to _see_ what you were going to wear, I would have intervened before you had even opened up your drawers. Seriously, what _is_ that? It looks like Michael Kors threw up on it. And then tried to sell it as part of his Fall line. Ugh!" Somehow, even her grunts managed to sound graceful. "No, it won't do. Not at all. Here. Let's try… _this_!" Before she had even finished her sentence, she had whipped open the closet door and rummaged through everything and was now standing with an entire outfit ready.

It was from the rack I had placed in the corner, full of all the clothes that Alice had bought for me that I wouldn't be caught dead in. Hmmm… I guess you had to be _un_dead to appreciate that kind of apparel.

I laughed aloud at my own internal joke, just furthering Alice's scowl. Then I took a closer look at the clothes she held in her tiny, outstretched hands.

"Oh, no! No way!" I backed up a few steps, shaking my hands back and forth in front of me. "There is no way in all of _hell_ that I'd ever where _that_! It looks like something that _Edward_ would wear." I said it with disgust.

"Hey, I heard that!" Edward called from down the hall.

I kept my eyes on Alice's tiny form as I turned my head slightly towards where his voice had come from. "You were supposed to!" I called back.

I let my eyes stray back toward Alice, focusing on the horribly offending clothing she held out for me.

There was a pair of pressed khaki pants and a soft, baby blue sweater.

"Alice, what will people say when they see me wearing _that_? They'll certainly be questioning my masculinity. Heck, I'll be questioning my _own_ masculinity if you force me to wear that."

She transferred the clothes over to one hand and placed the free one on her hip, raising up an eyebrow unfeasibly high.

"How could someone question your _manliness_―" she sneered the word― "in Brooks Brothers and cashmere by Armani?"

"Did you seriously just ask that?" I questioned, slapping a hand to my forehead in frustration. "I'm pretty sure that outfits speaks for itself."

"Well," she began, pausing thoughtfully. "You _did_ mention the word 'force.'"

I groaned. "Alice, I'm not a life size Barbie― I mean, Ken… I mean…― whatever! You can't dress me up!"

"Geez. Who does that sound like?" Then a little bit louder: "Bella, have you been teaching Jacob to reuse your lines?"

"You're not funny, Alice," Bella yelled.

"Okay, Alice, just get out of my room!" I was beyond exasperated by this point.

"Fine!" She threw the clothes down onto the bed on her way out the door, and turned to look over her shoulder at me as she left. "You better be downstairs, ready to go, in three minutes. And you _better_ be wearing those clothes!" I shuddered at the look she gave me. It was terrifying, especially coming from that petite sprite of a girl. I wasn't entirely sure how she managed to scare a grown werewolf….

With one last wistful glance in the mirror at my current choice of apparel, I changed into the hideously unappealing deathtrap that Alice had picked out for me.

I sighed as I made my way into the hall. I was almost to the stairs when Nessie ran up behind me and hugged me, jumping up onto my back. Laughing, I pulled her around into my arms and cradled her, smiling at my love. How had I gotten so lucky as to have this precious, darling, gorgeous girl? I kissed her nose and set her on her feet, keeping my arms wrapped safely around her waist.

"I take it that you're feeling better, Ness."

She grinned at me and nodded. "Loads! The headache's still there, but it's numbed significantly. And I'm barely nauseous anymore!"

"That's great! Now are you ready to head off and regain your nausea?"

She stared at me quizzically.

"I mean shopping. With Alice. It's enough to make anyone sick. I mean, look what she has me wearing!" I let go of her and gestured to myself with both of my hands, waving them up and down frantically. "I look like your father!" I exclaimed.

She shuddered at the forced images. "Jake, please don't do that. You're my boyfriend. I don't really need you comparing yourself to my _dad_." She cringed. "Okay, enough with the gross visuals... let's get going."

Alice was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, and she grinned like the Cheshire cat when she saw me.

"I knew you'd come around and see things from my perspective."

The only thing I could do was shake my head and pull Nessie out the door.

"Let's get this over with…. _Please_."

…xxXxx…

The first store Alice dragged Bella, Ness, and me into was _Victoria's Secret_.

To save myself from a potentially life-scarring experience― because, really, what man wants to watch the girl he used to love buy lingerie in honor of the guy he used to hate? Especially when said couple was his future parents in law! ― I sat in one of the big, fluffy pink armchairs in the corner of the store as Alice and Bella tried on… unmentionables. Nessie was off looking at the makeup section, but I didn't exactly want to wander over there, either.

To bide my time, I pondered the name of the store. What _was_ Victoria's Secret, anyway?

It worked! While I sat there, uselessly trying to unravel of one history's greatest mysteries, Alice and Bella finished up in the changing rooms. Out of respect to them― and to my own brain, which wasn't really in favor of a deep-cleaning bleach treatment for later― I looked away while they finalized their purchases. I _really_ didn't need to see what they were buying. Odds were, I'd end up hearing it tonight. A jolt of revolution shot through me at the thought.

"Hey, Jake!" Alice called as she and Bella walked towards the doors into the main part of the mall, Nessie coming up and grabbing my hand and leading me after them. "Wanna see what we bought?"

"No!" I screamed too quickly (and too loudly), garnering a few stares from passersby. "I mean," I quickly amended, lowering my voice as my cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red, "don't you want to show your husbands those things? I'm sure they'd appreciate them a great deal more than I would."

"Relax, Jacob," Alice giggled, stopping at the side of the crowded hall. "We aren't going to show you our _underthings_." She and Bella both laughed at the word― and at my obvious discomfort with the conversation.

"Plus," Alice added. "We bought something that we _know_ you'll appreciate."

She proceeded to reach into the bag and pull out two scraps of fabric… really more of a composition of lace, threads, and barely-there strings. She handed one to Bella and kept the other in her hand.

"For Nessie," was all Alice said as she took in my dumbfounded expression.

I stared with my mouth agape at the thong dangling from her dainty fingers. Bella held a matching corset top. I didn't even turn to look at Ness and measure her response.

The only words that I could make come out of my mouth were a feeble, "Holy _hell_."

Both the panties and the corset were hot pink with electric blue lace detail. On the top, right where the…um… _breasts_ were…_ housed_… were two paw prints. I ignored those as I took in the picture on the bottoms. There was a tiny depiction of a wolf with its head thrown back, howling. Right above it, in delicate silver cursive, were the words: 'Full Moon.'

Alice teetered her hands up and down, rocking the… _unmentionables_ she was holding.

"I knew you'd like them."

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**Song for this chapter: **_Satellite_** by **_September_

**Sorry for this kinda long AN, but please stick with me here and read it through.**

**First off, sorry for the long wait. I spent the last month finishing my English Honors Project, and I just finished it. It took up so much time, along with a bunch of new dance courses and dances to learn. Now, I'm going to have a lot more time for updates!**

**Secondly, I really want your opinions! Should Nessie be pregnant? I promise that, if she is, it won't be like Breaking Dawn. If that is the route I go, I already have an entire plot line (full of TONS of drama!) to write on. I have the entire story going that way. But, honestly, if you guys aren't going to enjoy it that way, I'll just have to change it. But I'm warning you guys now; if I don't go with the pregnancy, this story will be significantly shorter. So, please head on over to my profile and vote in the poll. It would be greatly appreciated. I really want to get as many opinions as possible. Even if just every person who has this favorited or alerted voted, I'd be a very happy, content person.**

**And, finally…**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TODAY!!! (Posted at 11:50 PM :P) HAPPY HANNUKAH! HAPPY KWANZA! AND ANY OTHER HOLIDAY YOU CELEBRATE!**

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I hope all of your New Years are filled with happiness, healthiness, and joy!**

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


	16. Rattling Hinges

**Oh man! I just had my Biology SAT II's this morning, and I'm almost positive I've failed. ): Studying for that is just one of the many reasons I haven't posted in a while. I'm sooooo sorry! Also, the poll was about even, but I have decided to not have Nessie pregnant. I hope that one day I can come back and write an alternate ending to this story where she is pregnant, because I had like 20 other chapters mapped out for that route.**

**Mine: A future filled with 5 finals and a biology regents**

**Not mine: Twilight. Edward. ):**

Nessie POV:

I marched up the porch, threw the door open, and slammed it behind me. I could _not_ believe them!

My mother and aunt had completely embarrassed me in front of Jacob― and half the mall. They had sent me in search of lip gloss in the back of Victoria's Secret, and had apparently bought that little outfit when I had left.

I knew they were only trying to piss off Jacob― trying to get even for the night of the party― but they had absolutely no right to do that!

After they had so carelessly shown off the garbage they had bought as their form of a "harmless prank" ― Alice's words― they had spent the entire rest of the trip giggling and making references to our mortification.

"Oh, did you hear?" Alice had asked Mom at one point. "I heard tonight's supposed to be a _full moon_." That did it!

I had stopped moving in the middle of the mall floor and wouldn't take another step. Mom and Alice were behind me (Jacob was trailing behind them, his eyes cast down), and they immediately came over.

"We're going. _Now_." I spoke the words low and menacingly, making sure they knew I wasn't acting on humor. Not at all.

"Nessie, we were just playing around." My mom placed her pale hand against my arm, but I ignored her attempt at kindness.

I hadn't said a word, but instead turned around and began walking back towards the entrance near where we had parked. I left the building and stepped out into the cloudy weather, stomping my way over to the car. I heard the beep as my aunt reluctantly unlocked the door from behind me. I tossed the bags into the back seat and jumped in after them.

Needless to say, I didn't say a word the entire ride home.

And now, here I was, taking the steps two at a time to my bedroom. I barely registered the fact that only Emmett and Jasper were home, but I continued regardless. I fell onto my bed in a heap and started crying instantly.

I couldn't take this any more. All the little glances and whispered jokes my family thought I didn't hear them say when they thought I wasn't paying attention. Jacob and I had come under their scrutiny, and, while I knew we probably deserved it as of late, it still didn't make it feel any better.

Mom was the first person to walk into my room.

"Baby, I'm really sorry." She walked slowly to my bed and sat down, inching closer and draping an arm over my hunched back. "We love you, and we're just trying to make a joke out of the situation. Because, right now, I'd rather let my anger and frustration play out in comedy, instead of inflicting damage to Jacob."

I looked up at her in slight puzzlement.

"Renesmee, you're my little girl. And, I know that growing up, you'll make plenty more mistakes like the one you made at that party, but it doesn't make this any easier for me. I don't want to see you grow up yet; I still want you to be my little angel."

I moved closer into her side and reached for her hand. I felt really guilty. "Mama―" She smiled at my choice of endearment― "I'll always be your girl. But I won't always be your _little_ girl. In our world, I might just have to grow up kind of quickly."

"And one day you're going to leave, Ness," she murmured, stroking my hair lovingly. She saw me open my mouth to protest, but shook her head and continued. "I know it might not be in the near future, but sooner or later, you are going to go off and live your own life. You won't want to live your life with your parents forever."

I looked up at the young face of my mother and was shocked to see her eyes shining sadly, indicating that she would be crying if she could. "Mama, I'm not going anywhere. _I'll_be right_here as long as you need me_."

My mother frowned right away at those words, but I couldn't understand why. I didn't have time to question her expression before Alice came bounding into the room.

"Sorry, Nessie," she said, plopping down on the other side of me. "We didn't really understand how much we were upsetting you. Jasper explained what you were feeling to me. We let it get out of hand, didn't we?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but maybe I was just being over sensitive at the moment. _I'm _sorry if I've been pissy lately."

"Apology accepted," she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. "But you owe me another shopping trip.

I groaned while she chuckled, and then I stood up from my bed. "Let's go downstairs." They both followed me out the door and down the stairs, where I found my uncles sitting on the couch with Jacob.

"Sup, kiddo?" Emmett grinned widely at me and I couldn't help but return the smile.

"I'm doing well, Uncle Emmett. Well, I am now." I smirked at Jacob as I ended, and he stood up from his seat uncomfortably. He walked towards me and cocked his head.

"Let's go take a little walk, Nessie." His voice sounded off, but I figured it was just from being near my family. The last couple of days had made things more than a bit awkward.

"Sure," I replied, walking towards him. I moved to hold of his hand, and, while blinking, I almost missed his tiny hesitation. I shook it off and grabbed his large, warm digits with my own.

"Don't try any funny business out there!" Emmett called. I just turned, scowled at him, and looked back to Jacob again. He led us out the door, and we took off, walking across the huge lawn. I let go of his hand and called out, "Race ya!" I didn't give him time to respond, and continued on, hitting the woods at a dead sprint.

Whenever we went out into the woods, we'd play little games like this. So when I didn't hear him following a few minutes later, I turned on my heels and dashed back to him. I found him a mile back, running at an almost leisurely pace.

I touched his cheek, letting my thoughts float into his own. _Jake, what's wrong?_ I asked, making my confusion and concern obvious by my internal tone.

"Renesmee," he began. I already knew it wasn't something good― he _rarely_ used my full name like that. "It's just, well, with everything that's happened in the last few days, I think…." He trailed off sheepishly, playing with the leaves on the ground with the toe of his shoe.

"What do you think, Jacob?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, I heard you and your mom talking upstairs, and it got me thinking. And I think maybe we should slow down our relationship. I mean, we've got so much time ahead of us, and you're still so young―" I cut him off right there.

"Jake! I'm _not_ a child! I may have only lived a few years, but I'm by no means a child! You know that very well!" I was shouting, but I could care less.

"Nessie, you're seven! You can look, dress, and act like a high schooler, but the fact remains that you were born seven years ago. And I still want to be with you― of course I do! But we shouldn't be as… intimate. Kissing is great, but we can't let it get out of hand."

"But, Jacob, _why_?" Why now? We had been kissing for a year now. I liked kissing him… I _loved_ kissing him.

"Because, Ness, I'm sick of feeling like I'm taking advantage of you. Geez! There, I said it!"

I just stared at him, my mouth hanging open. I couldn't believe what he was saying. But he wasn't done yet.

"I'm twenty three, Renesmee! I stopped growing when I was sixteen, I'm physically closer to twenty five, and I've lived for twenty three years. You look sixteen and you've only been around for seven years. Do you not understand how confusing this all is to me? I feel sick just thinking about what happened the other night."

"You regret having sex with me?" I spoke the words so low that I wasn't sure he'd hear them. But he did, and he instantly softened his face.

"That's not what I meant. It was… amazing. But wrong. It was _so_ wrong. Your family has made me realize just how unethical it was."

"Oh yeah," I retorted bitterly. "Let's listen to_ my_ _family_ when it comes to _our_ relationship."

"Ness, please. You _know _I love you. You're my everything. But… I just think― for now, at least― we should slow things down. Just a little."

"Slow down?" I whispered angrily? "How's this for slowing down, Jacob Black? We're done!" I growled and turned my back on him.

I couldn't deal with someone who wanted to treat me more like a little sister than a girlfriend. Plus, all I ever did was get Jacob in trouble. We'd both be better off this way.

I stormed off back towards the house, ignoring Jacob as he called after me. I _definitely_ did not want to talk to him right now. With the turmoil I was currently feeling, I wasn't sure I _could _talk.

I flew back through the trees, the hot tears on my face blurring my vision slightly. But I couldn't care less. When I broke through the tree line onto the lawn, I somehow mustered the strength to go even faster. In less than a second, I reached the stairs, and then I was opening the door viciously. For the second time today, I slammed the door behind me, rattling it in its hinges.

**Songs for this chapter:** _Holiday_ **by** _Boys Like Girls_

_Battlefield _**by **_Jordin Sparks_

**Did any of you catch the hidden **_**New Moon**_** reference I snuck in there? See if you can find it. :P**

**Don't worry! They'll eventually get back together. But one thing I've learned from Twilight: what's a relationship without a few obstacles? Maybe it'll take some other relationships― and a healthy dose of jealousy, of course!― to bring these two back together.**

**Please review! It would cheer me up after that awful fail of a test this morning. :D **

**Xoxo,**

**Michelle (:**


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